More Than A Little Unexpected
by Account is now Inactive
Summary: There were some things that happened between Duncan and Courtney on the island that they made sure the cameras didn't catch. After being voted off, Courtney finds that those things landed her in a rather... unexpected predicament. DxC very minor GxB
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay. This is my first fanfic and basically the first real piece of writing I've ever done outside of school. So bear with me. Please leave any type of review you want; or don't review at all. To be frank, I don't really give a damn. If you like it that's really boss. If you don't well, that sucks for you, because that means you just wasted your time reading a crappy story then, didn't you. Whatever. Not my problem. So please, read on if you so wish.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Total Drama Island or anything related to it. I do own the TV I watch it on though!**

* * *

For many of the campers voted off the island, Playa des Losers was like their own personal paradise. Especially after the horrible challenges and living conditions they had put up with while actually part of the show. In fact, every camper thought of the resort in that way, every camper that is, except one.

Courtney had gotten over initial anger at being voted off a minute or so after the Boat of Losers had pulled away from the Dock of Shame and she had lost sight of Duncan. She stared forlornly at the small skull nestled in the palm of her hand, as though it could ease her sadness at all. Courtney studied the grains in the carved skull, trying to convince herself that she had no reason to be sad. After all, it wasn't as if her being voted off was really a goodbye, right? She inwardly grimaced as she really took that question in to consideration.

Leaning on the railing of the boat's deck, Courtney couldn't help but wonder what would become of the… the- well, what exactly did she and Duncan have? Sure they had kissed in front of the entire viewing world and done a _lot_ more that wasn't anywhere near a damned camera, but they weren't really a couple. At least, she didn't think so. Courtney face flushed crimson as she recalled what exactly that 'lot' more they'd done together included. That, erm… act alone was typically for _couples_, so that meant they had to be an item to some extent. Courtney audibly groaned and put her head in her hands. She was still maddeningly confused and getting nowhere at all, arguing with herself.

For a few minutes, Courtney sat down and stuffed the small skull she'd been holding in one of the pockets of her pants. Leaning her back against the railing, Courtney tried to clear her mind of the worries and questions plaguing her every thought. The peace lasted for about five seconds until Courtney remembered what she'd yelled to Duncan as the boat moved her continuously farther from him. Now the words were taunting her, reverberating around in an everlasting echo of uncertainty that only she could hear.

"_I'll never forget you!"_

That same horrible exclamation, repeating itself, driving her insane. What was she thinking? It wasn't as if she was _trying_ to say goodbye to Duncan at all.

'_Aren't you?'_ a voice in Courtney's head mocked her.

'_No! I'm not!'_ she thought back desperately.

'_Then what exactly, are you trying to say to him? 'I'll never forget you' isn't really something you call out to someone you're expecting to be with again_,_'_ the voice stated.

Courtney went silent. See, the thing was, she honestly didn't know what she was trying to say to her not-quite-boyfriend. Did she even really want to have a real relationship with Duncan? Would he still even want her now that she had let him get into her pants and then somehow got voted off? Was that all that he'd wanted in the first place? Courtney shook her head. Those questions were the epitome of trivial: the first was clearly a yes, and although she wasn't completely sure about Duncan's motives, Courtney liked to think that he had some morals pertaining to things like that. She'd definitely didn't want to be just another notch in that Neanderthal's bedpost. And really, was it that stupid of her to hope that maybe they were "meant to be"? That maybe she kind of wished that the one guy who'd ever made her feel or want _anything_ other than a strictly platonic relationship might feel and want the same thing?

Courtney sighed and stood up again. As she turned, Playa des Losers came into view and so did the faint outlines of people waiting on the dock to see who had been voted off. She didn't think she was ready to deal with people just yet, but she didn't really have a choice did she?

The Boat of Losers pulled up and she hopped lithely off of it, grabbing her bag from where Chef had flung it in with her in the same instant. Once firmly on the dock, Courtney looked up blankly at the campers on the dock with her. It was clear from their expressions that they were shocked to see it was her who'd been voted off. The only one who seemed to register how bleak she looked was surprisingly, Noah.

"You okay Courtney?" he questioned, quirking his eyebrows but otherwise looking completely indifferent. At his question, the others- Beth, Cody, Katie, Sadie, Ezekiel, Tyler, Eva, Justin and Izzy- started to notice Courtney's strange attitude. Their reactions varied from concerned to uncaring, but even the latter expressed a mostly curious concern at hearing her response.

"It doesn't matter much," she stated blandly. "Could someone show me how to get around this place, please?"

Katie and Sadie were looked like they were about to offer their assistance, but Noah spoke up before they could utter a single of their trademark squeals followed by annoying blathering.

"I'll do it," he said in the same indifferent tone his question had been in. He looked around at the others on the dock. "Maybe you guys should go back to whatever you were doing before the boat came; there's nothing more to see here," this time his voice had gone into the condescending tenor it usually had. To Courtney's surprise, the other campers did just that, with only a few grumbles and mutterings.

This time it was her raising her eyebrows in query, "What are you, the grand ermine at this ravishing palace of a resort?"

Noah chuckled, "Far from it. I just think that they'd realized already that you wouldn't be 'opening up' much right now."

"You can express amusement in a way that isn't cynical or sarcastic, Noah?"

"On occasion," he responded, grinning.

The two shared a brief laugh and Courtney marveled over how much more likable he was away from the island. She told herself it was probably because he gotten over the fact that he'd lost the game and was willing to be _slightly_ more amiable. Goodness knows she'd become much more than slightly amiable while still _on_ the island herself, she thought wryly. Courtney was snapped out of her musing by a faintly smiling Noah.

"You ready to get this little tour over with?"

"Definitely. The sooner it's over, the sooner I can finally get some decent sleep!"

With that, Noah led Courtney from the dock and, going around the pool in the patio area, into the resort that would be her home until the end of the show. Considering that it was a resort, it was decorated very un-gaudily and was pretty modern looking. Courtney was surprised to say the least. Who would've thought that the show would pay for something that the campers would actually enjoy?

Noah got through his "little tour" quickly as it was obvious that Courtney was just about dead on her feet. He showed her where the dining room, spa, and bathrooms were before leading her as rapidly as possible to the hallway her room was located in. Noah assured himself that she would be able to find anywhere else she would possibly need to go from those basic areas. After telling Courtney that breakfast was served until about 10:00 every morning, he bid her a cordial but short good night and headed off to his own room.

Despite her exhaustion, Courtney took the time to inspect her room's hallway in an effort to not get lost trying to find it anytime tomorrow. She noticed that the rooms were all assigned alphabetically by each camper's first name.

Courtney's door was in the middle of the hall to the left, across from Cody's. Walking towards it, she was glad to notice that Bridgette's room was right next to hers and across from Beth's. As Courtney's brain was operating in theta level by now, she couldn't determine who the last two doors in the hall could possibly belong to. Leaning to the right a little, she could see that the rooms belonged to DJ –she grinned sleepily- and… Duncan. Her grin faltered.

Courtney _still_ wasn't all that sure how things would work out between her and Duncan despite her desire to have a real relationship with him. Again she wondered if Duncan was at all as serious about her as she was about him. She shook her head to clear it. It was definitely not the right time to puzzle over her situation anymore; she was much too tired for any thinking.

Opening the room quickly, Courtney pivoted on her foot while pushing the door closed so that she could just lean back and slump against it. After a moment, Courtney lifted her head and took in her temporary home. She was relieved at what she saw.

The room wasn't lavishly or tackily decorated like most resort's rooms would be. It was clean, neat, nicely sized and had a relaxing color scheme. The plush looking full size bed beckoned to Courtney so she plopped her bag down on the floor and sank into the lush grey comforter. Sighing, she pushed the decorative leafy green pillows off of the bed and snuggled up to the larger plum purple ones. Once situated and at ease, Courtney focused on relaxing each individual part of her body. It was sometime during this calming process that she finally fell into a much needed and restful sleep.

* * *

**A/N: End of first chapter. Alrighty. If you actually liked it, and are willing to wait for an update, I'd like to tell you something. I write slow. So please don't get frustrated if I don't update too often. Just wanted to let you know ahead of time.**

**Also, if you're going to leave a review, go ahead and write anything. Flames are welcome. Be honest. I'm not going to make any progress or improvement in my writing. Again, just to let you know. I really don't mind criticism. Bring it on. Tchau!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Woot! Here's the second chapter of my story! I'm sorry it took this long. I'm also afraid that the wait for the next chapter might be a little longer. Sorry, but school duties call. sighs I was so thrilled with all of the great reviews I got for the first chapter: You guys rock!**

**Story Notes: Alright, this chapter is actually kind of a filler before I go more into the actual "plot" plot. There are some things in this chapter that hint at the actual plot if you haven't figured it out for yourself yet. Finally, the large portion of italics is supposed to be a flashback. i just wanted to add that in case anyone got confused. Okay, I'll shut up now.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Total Drama Island.**

* * *

The barely rising sun found Courtney awake and reading in the rather large window seat of her room. It had been a full week since her arrival at the resort and she found that her sleeping habits were very much awry. It wasn't unusual by now for Courtney to wake up early, fully rested and then end up going back to bed after little more than an hour or two, feeling a little drowsy. It was strange to say the least.

Courtney sighed and placed the book she'd been trying to concentrate on reading on the opposite end of the seat. She leaned back and stared out of the window, watching the sunlight creep over the still water of the pool. It was still, that is, until Izzy came rushing out of the glass doors just off the patio and dived into it, making a rather loud splash that made Courtney wince as it jarred a headache she hadn't even noticed until then.

Glancing over at the clock on her dresser, Courtney shook her head in disbelief. Only five thirty in the morning and Izzy was already up to her crazy shenanigans. Where in the hell did that girl get her energy from?

Standing up and stretching, Courtney figured that since Izzy would eventually wake everyone up, she should get in the shower before the other girls decided to begin their own morning ablutions. As quickly as it had appeared, Courtney's headache evaporated as she moved around her room collecting everything she would need and putting it in a small canvas bag to take to the bathroom with her. Humming tunelessly to herself she stepped out into the hallway and strolled leisurely through the resort until she reached her destination.

Pushing the door open, Courtney walked over to one of the showering "units" to the left and placed her bag on the small built-in bench in the area used to change. After grabbing the flimsy vinyl curtain and pulling it closed, she stripped and placed her dirty clothes on the bench next to her bag. Yanking the other curtain to the actual shower open, she stepped in and turned the water on, jumping back when the initial cold spray hit her skin.

As the water grew warmer, Courtney gladly stepped in the stream from the shower head, letting it completely envelop her. The soothing flow relaxed her even more and it was a few moments before she even reached around the curtain to grab her shampoo. Closing her eyes to lather her hair, Courtney could imagine that she was back on the island, getting prepared for a day of relaxation after a challenge. She could imagine that when she got out of the washroom, Duncan would be waiting outside to banter with her like he'd made a habit of doing every morning…

"_And how are you this morning, Princess?" he asked, smirking._

_If her annoyance at seeing him waiting for her again wasn't obvious in her expression, it was sure as hell obvious in her response._

"_Well, if you __**must**__ know-"_

"_I do," he interrupted, clearly enjoying how aggravated she was getting already._

_Courtney glared at him for a moment before responding, "I was perfectly content until __**you**__ showed up, you bastard!" Then, realizing what she'd just said, she quickly covered her mouth with her hands as her face flushed with embarrassment._

_Duncan grinned at her, relishing more in her mortification than in her previous anger. "So I'm a bastard am I?" he queried casually, reaching out to move her hands from her face. He frowned when she stepped back, avoiding contact with him._

"_I can't believe I said that," Courtney mumbled a little incoherently. _

_Duncan sighed and suddenly put an arm around her waist, pulling her to him. The abrupt movement startled Courtney into looking up at him as he spoke. "You know, Princess, you really need to lighten up. After all, I've been called things a lot worse than that. Actually, I'm a little disappointed to tell the truth."_

"_Disappointed?" she asked, trying futilely to get out of Duncan's hold._

"_Yeah," he said, pulling her closer to him out of spite, "I mean, is 'bastard' __**really**__ the best you can do?" There was the unmistakable trace of a challenge in his voice. _

_He had expected that Courtney would hit him or, at the very least, narrow her eyes in response to his blatant challenge. What he didn't expect was for her to give him a mischievous and (he couldn't help but think) rather sexy look. "Well ogre, I'm a little disappointed myself." Duncan raised his eyebrows in silent question._

"_Given my current position," Courtney gestured to his arm around her waist, "it's pretty obvious that this is merely one of your more __**pathetic**__ attempts at flirting with me. After seeing the "moves" you tried to put on Heather our first day on the island, I must say I'm quite… disenchanted. Is this __**really**__ the best you can do, Romeo?"_

_The look on the Duncan's face was nothing short of priceless. Courtney moved quickly out of his lax grip on her waist and began walking back towards her cabin, a bounce in her-_

The door to the bathroom was slammed open as what sounded like three or four people came in. Courtney's heart went into overdrive as she was snapped out of her flashback and into reality. How long had she been spaced out for? Looking down at her now wrinkled hands and just starting to feel how cold the water was getting, she figured it had to have been a while.

As quickly as possible, Courtney finished up her shower, washing in what had to be a record time. Turning the spray of water off, she grabbed her towel and fervently dried her hair and body in an attempt to stave off the chill the cold air gave her. Once fairly dry, Courtney dressed in the clothes she brought with her- a pair of denim Bermuda shorts and a lilac baby doll halter top- and stepped out from behind the curtain with her things.

Greeting Beth, who was splashing water in her face to wake up more fully but still returned it, Courtney strolled barefoot out of the bathroom and upon turning the corner, bashed right into Harold.

The redhead looked up, ready to say something, but blanched when he saw that it was Courtney he'd knocked down.

"Courtney! I-I-I'm sorry! I di-didn't see you there!" he stuttered nervously. Then, slapping his forehead, he mumbled, "Idiot!"

Courtney couldn't help but chuckle. Ever since he'd told her that he had rigged the votes to get back at Duncan, he expected violent retaliation from her whenever they were near one another. Sure, she had been murderously angry at first and gave him a few good slaps upside the head, but she could she where he was coming from. Besides, after seeing him so obviously guilty and remorseful, she had figured that his conscience was doing a better job of punishing him than she ever could. Courtney only wished he had thought of a different way to get revenge on Duncan. Looking at the still pale Harold, Courtney realized that she probably hadn't exactly made that clear to him. After all, they'd hardly ever been in the same room since his confession. '_Oh well,_' she thought, '_better now than never, I suppose._'

"Look Harold," she sighed, frowning when the nerd flinched, "I'm not mad at you anymore. You can stop preparing for a beat down whenever I get near you, okay?"

Harold stared at her in disbelief. "You're not mad?"

"No."

"Seriously?"

"Yes! Yes, Harold! I'm totally and completely fine with you rigging the votes! Now are you going to believe me, or do I have to-"

"No, I believe you!" he answered quickly. "Gosh!"

Courtney rolled her eyes at his trademark exclamation. Grabbing her bag that had dropped when she collided with Harold, she started towards her room, looking back to give him a little wave and a "See ya later!"

Upon reaching her door, Courtney pushed it open briefly in order to fling her bag inside before pulling it shut again. As she was walking to the main living area of the resort, her stomach grumbled, blatantly reminding her that she hadn't eaten yet today. "Shut up, stomach," she said absently, "You'll get your freaking food."

Strolling into the dining area, she received several good mornings from the people already there eating or getting their breakfasts. Grabbing a plate and walking up to the spread laid out on the buffet table at the back of the room, she piled what looked to be at least 10 pounds of food onto it. Courtney then took her food and sat down at a table with Noah, Tyler, Beth and Cody. All four raised their brows in question at the amount of food on her plate.

"What?" she said in defense, "I've been really hungry lately!"

"_That_ hungry?" Noah asked skeptically.

"Yeah." As the looks at the table stayed doubtful, Courtney felt the need to defend herself again. "Hey, it's not my fault that my metabolism or whatever decided to get all out of whack!"

Cody laughed at that, "I'm surprised that after what went down on that island your metabolism is the only thing out of whack!" The slight tension that had built up was quickly dissolved and all of them shared a companionable laugh.

The rest of the meal was filled friendly banter, conversation and amazement from the others as they watched Courtney eat every item of food on her plate. It was while they were putting their plates in the service bin that Katie and Sadie burst into the dining room, practically vibrating in sheer excitement and eagerness.

"Ohmigosh, you guys!" Katie squealed, "Sadie and I had the best idea ever!"

"And we wanted to know if you guys want to join in!" Sadie continued, almost immediately after Katie.

"Oh Sadie, I was just about to say that!" Katie said, perkily, "We are so totally BFFFL!"

"I know!" Sadie shouted. The two proceeded to hug and squeal until Courtney cleared her throat, trying to gain their attention.

"Um, what was it that you two wanted to ask us?" she said patiently. The girls stopped for a moment before remembering the reason they had approached the group.

"We wanted to know if you guys might want to play some volleyball!" Sadie said, jumping up and down enthusiastically.

"I'm in if you guys are in," Tyler said, flexing his arms.

Rolling his eyes, Noah said, "Well I'm no good at sports, but I'd be willing to be the ref." With two of their group already in, Beth, Cody and Courtney agreed to join in. With that, they all made their way outside onto the patio and over to the small grassy area to a few feet away from the pool and bar, where a volleyball net was set up. They then proceeded to get into teams gather on either side of the net. The ensuing game was purely for fun as some of the players would turn "traitor" and switch to being on the opposing team. Their laughter soon drew the other campers out of the resort where they became spectators, razzing the players and randomly hopping in to hit the ball.

After a sudden spike from Izzy that ended up knocking the net down, the game ended and the campers went off to find other things to do. Courtney sped up to her room after joking with Harold and Ezekiel for a few minutes and grabbed the book that she had been reading earlier in the day from its spot on the window seat.

Still barefoot, Courtney took her book headed back to the main living area and did a sort dancing walk into the entertainment room which contained two large suede sectionals, a plasma screen TV and a billiards table. Flopping onto the chaise part of one of the sectionals, Courtney became engrossed the story she had had such a hard time concentrating on previously. After what seemed like seconds to her but was really around half an hour, Courtney began to feel drowsy, yet continued reading. It was about an hour or so later that Cody and Harold walked into the room to find her fast asleep on the sectional, her book dropped face down on the hardwood floor.

**A/N: So what did you think? Feel free to tell me in a review, or keep it to yourself. So, mehr Liebe und tchau!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Alrighty, here is the third chapter. I had my sister read it (like every chapter. lol.) and she said it was good but... I don't know. I still don't think it's all that great. But I'm a fucking psycho. lol. Also, this chapter is dedicated to my friend CandleFire678. Her birthday was on the 9th and I figured this would a pretty rad belated present. So what do you think, Katie? Good present? lmao.**

**Disclaimer: I for sure don't own Total Drama Island.**

**

* * *

**  
"Okay, okay," Noah said after the previous fit of laughter had finally died down, "I think I've got a good one."

Everyone waited eagerly to hear what Noah had to say. Since they had pretty much exhausted every lame pick up line ever used, they wondered what he could have left to offer. Clearing his throat, he just let it fly.

"If you were words on a page, you'd be what they call _fine_ print!"

There was an immediate chorus of groans and laughter from the others in the floating pool or sitting on the rim of it. Courtney was currently one of the ones on the edge, her feet and ankles submerged beneath the chlorinated water. While in the midst of her laughter, she was almost knocked fully into it when Bridgette leaned against her due to her own fit of giggles. A small shriek escaped her lips as Trent- who was one of the ones in the pool- took advantage of her lack of balance and pulled her by the ankles into the water. When she resurfaced, Courtney looked around wildly for the sly bastard and after locating him, quickly started a fierce splash war. This only served to elicit more hilarity from the other campers, even causing Lindsay and Beth to fall into the pool themselves, the resulting splash nearly drowning everyone in the pool and ending Courtney and Trent's battle.

Courtney broke through the surface of the water once again, but this time with a wide grin plastered across her face. Over the past two weeks, this kind of mirthful chaos had become an everyday thing. The little "family" they had at resort was something Courtney had always secretly wished her real family could be like, even more so now that Trent, Bridgette and Lindsay had joined it. Sure, they all had certain quirks about them that could get annoying, but Courtney knew that she had her own as well. That was what made it so great; everyone just accepted that fact _and_ still managed to get along very well. What they endured on the island had forged a stronger bond than any of them had initially thought.

After shooting another quick splash in Trent's direction, Courtney scrambled up the pool ladder before he retaliated against her surprise attack.

"Taking the coward's way out, Courtney?" Noah asked dryly.

Courtney rolled her eyes at the return of his infamous sarcasm, but still chuckled. "Damn straight I am! Trent is vicious in that water and I don't feel like drowning today."

At that, Lindsay looked up from wringing the water out of her flaxen hair to stare at her with wide eyes. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe Trent would drown someone! I wonder if Gwen knows…"

Lindsay continued to babble on about Trent and Gwen and drowning as Courtney and Noah shook their heads in wonderment. Sure, Lindsay was nice a girl and all, but she was severely in need of a head that had a little less air. Of course, it wasn't likely to happen anytime soon; it was one of her quirks. Their wonderment quickly turned to amusement though as Lindsay suddenly stopped her senseless prattling to look at Noah with hope and a bit of suspicion.

"Oh, are _you_ Tyler?"

The two smiled sympathetically at the valley girl, and Noah replied with a simple, "No."

Once Lindsay walked away, Courtney collapsed into a fit of giggles, leaning slightly against Noah for support. In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but marvel over how much she had laughed already today. Yet another reason she loved being a part of this extended family; she was always laughing and just well… just _living_. Something her goal oriented family back home had never given her the chance to do.

Courtney shook her head as her giggling finally came to a stop. She didn't really want to think about what would be awaiting her when the show was all over and she had to go back home. It's not that Winnipeg wasn't nice, but after the way she'd been living lately, she wouldn't be surprised if she quickly grew tired of her old monotonous everyday routine.

Finally righting herself and playfully pushing on Noah's shoulder in thanks for being her leaning post, Courtney strolled over to a lounge chair near the water bar and laid down on it. Stretching languorously, she sighed in pure contentment as the bright noontime sun warmed her tan skin.

She smiled faintly to herself as she heard Trent remark on how cat-like that stretch had been, and how her feline attributes must been the reason why she was so scared of continuing their _water_ fight. "You wish, Trent," she said quietly, already drifting into a doze.

_SPLASH!_

Izzy, the crazy redhead that she is, had once again made a random and loud dive into the pool.

Courtney rocketed up off her lounge chair, as startled as everyone else was. There was only one critical difference concerning Courtney's reaction, though. Almost the second after she sprung up from her relaxed pose, she blanched and fainted. Almost the second after that, everyone started to freak.

* * *

"What the hell happened?!" Tyler exclaimed frantically, "Is she dead?"

Bridgette knelt down quickly, feeling for Courtney's pulse. She sighed in relief after a few moments, "No, there's definitely a pulse."

Everyone visibly relaxed, now confident that nobody was dying at the moment. There was still the matter of finding out what ailment Courtney could possibly have to make her faint like that. While the rest of them puzzled over it in their minds, Eva swiftly grew agitated and decided to address the problem out loud.

"Okay, what could possibly be wrong with her?" she asked gruffly, "None of us have been sick at all since we've been here. Not a single damn sniffle!"

All of them were silent for a moment, reassuming their previous trains of thought until Noah finally spoke up.

"I have a pretty good idea of what might be going on here, but I'd have to ask Courtney to be sure. Speaking of which, can someone please pick her up off of the floor. I'd do it, but all of us know I'm not that _athletic_."

Trent and Cody immediately lifted Courtney as gently as they could without dropping her and placed her back on the lounge chair. Bridgette sat down on the space she wasn't occupying, grasping at her wrist so as to be sure that she kept a steady pulse.

"Alright Noah," Cody said patiently, "What do you think is going on here?"

* * *

Courtney regained consciousness much too slowly for her liking. It was a little frustrating hearing people talking about her and talking to her as well without being able to respond.

"When do think she's going to wake up, Trent?" she heard Lindsay say nervously.

'_I'm up right now!_' Courtney's mind screamed in place of her mouth.

"I don't know," he replied uncertainly, unaware of her mental struggle, "It's got to be soon though; she's been out for two hours already."

"I've been out for two hours?!"

Courtney quickly covered her mouth when she realized that she had finally regained use of her vocal chords, and had just yelled that last incredulous question. The people occupying her room with her- which happened to be _everyone_- all looked extremely shocked before breaking out into relieved and genuinely happy smiles.

Bridgette suddenly leaped on the bed with Courtney, bunching up the grey comforter, and enfolding a good portion of her upper body in a tight bear hug.

"Courtney! You scared the hell out of everybody! Why would you do that to us?" she said almost too fast for Courtney to hear.

She laughed in response and hugged her friend in return. "Well Bridgette, I didn't exactly choose to pass out. It just sort of… happened, I guess."

Bridgette smiled at her own foolishness and leaned back to let everyone else get in with their own hugs and concerned questions. Looking at her friend, she could only smile wider; Courtney was practically glowing, you could tell she was touched to see how many people truly cared about her. Of course, she was likely to have an over abundance of care as long as they were all together, especially now that Noah had given his very plausible diagnosis. This extended family certainly wasn't about to break up anytime soon.

After about a half an hour of reassurance and relief to the extreme, almost everyone had cleared out of Courtney's room. Everyone that is, except for Trent, Bridgette, Noah, and Harold.

As soon as Katie and Sadie had walked out of the door babbling about something or other, the four had started staring at Courtney intently. Despite their efforts to be inconspicuous in their scrutiny, Courtney soon grew aware of it. Becoming more uncomfortable and curious by the second, she decided to drag to whatever it was they were hiding from her out into the open.

Clearing her throat, she questioned a little nervously, "Is there something going on here that you all aren't telling me?"

All of them visibly tensed for a moment until, out of all of them, Harold approached the bed and sat on the edge. Looking into her eyes curiously, he abruptly asked Courtney, "Do you have any idea what could've caused you to faint like that?"

Courtney thought for a minute before frowning and answering with, "No idea whatsoever."

Harold turned to Noah and mouthed something to him that Courtney couldn't make out. Getting up from his spot on the bed, Harold gestured for Noah to continue whatever point they trying to get to. Rubbing the back of his head, Noah took a few steps toward the bed before stopping and bluntly saying one of the last things Courtney had expected to hear.

"Courtney, I think you might be pregnant."

* * *

**A/N: Love it? Hate it? Don't give a damn? Let me know if you want to. Tchau!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: The fourth chapter is finally here. I'm so uber sorry that it so long. If you haven't decided to give up on me yet, and are currently reading this, I hope you like it!! I don't blame you if you don't think it was worth the wait after.**

**Disclaimer: When the stocks crashed, I lost the rights to Total Drama Island. Curse American economy problems!! lol.**

* * *

'_Pregnant_.'

Courtney had been up for hours now, that single word a recurring thought in her mind… a mantra of sorts. She still couldn't help but feel at the thought, despite how Noah's suggestion made perfect sense. It all fit; the irregular sleeping habits, the increase in appetite, and yesterday's fainting episode. Of course, Noah could be wrong. It _was_ possible that she just had a bug or something instead.

She grimaced to herself. This mental argument had been going on for fifteen minutes now. Sighing, Courtney turned in her bed, kicking the comforter off of her and letting the cool morning air wash over her lax body. She highly doubted that Noah was wrong; the kid had eight older siblings for crying out loud! Surely he would know of some of the symptoms after hearing countless tales of pregnancy from his mother, right?

Courtney shifted again so that her face buried in her pillow. She fervently wished that she could simply sink back into her previous state of dreamless sleep. No, instead she had to have a sudden burst of consciousness that brought back everything that had happened yesterday and placed it firmly in the fore of her mind. Just what she needed, another thing to keep her tossing and turning restlessly every night. First it was how things would stand between her and Duncan-

Courtney's slack body tensed the moment that name passed through her mind. Duncan. Where did he come into this whole… situation? Courtney inwardly cursed herself for coming up with another thing to incessantly contemplate and fret over. She was going to drive herself insane.

But how could she not? Things like this weren't ever supposed to happen to her, it was like sacrilege! From the moment she was born, her parents had instilled in Courtney all of the morals and standards successful people should live by. Stiffly rolling on the bed so that she was on her back, Courtney thought back to her parents' incessant lectures on the proper behavior for her to adopt. Teenage pregnancy certainly wasn't a part of the guidelines that they had practically drilled into every aspect of her being. In fact, her parents had basically told her that if she ever came home pregnant, she'd find herself on the fast road to disownment and homelessness. Unless, of course, she aborted.

Courtney's eyes widened at that particular thought and her hand flew to rest on her stomach. No, there was no way in hell she was going to kill her own child. Even though she had never planned on _ever_ being pregnant at all due to the line of work she'd been pursuing at her parents' suggestion, she was determined to keep the baby. While she had never looked down on people deciding to terminate their own pregnancies, she already knew that she could never do it herself.

Taking notice of just how tense she had become, Courtney willed herself into a more relaxed physical state. After taking several deep breaths, she got up off the bed and quickly made it. Seeing as she'd taken a shower the night before- after Noah's diagnosis- she dressed in another pair of denim shorts and a light green spaghetti strapped top. Having developed a habit of walking around in her bare feet, Courtney stepped out of her room and quietly closed the door, just in case anyone else was still sleeping. Then, unconsciously hugging her midsection, she proceeded to make her way to the dining room.

As she walked through the halls, Courtney replied to several morning greetings and upon reaching her destination much more at ease with herself in the realization that none of the others were judging her for this… unexpected event. Making her way to the buffet, Courtney gathered her usual amount of food and took a seat next to Bridgette at a table. The surfer girl turned to smile warmly at her and enfold her in another hug. Smiling and hugging in return, Courtney laughed before asking, "Bridge, exactly how much time have you been spending with Katie and Sadie?"

Everyone within hearing- including Katie and Sadie themselves- laughed at the inquiry. After lightly pushing on Courtney's shoulder in amusement, Bridgette's face adopted a slightly more serious look.

"How are you feeling, Court?

Said girl looked away thoughtfully for a moment before turning back to her friend. "I feel a little confused, if I'm being completely honest."

Bridgette nodded understandingly. "Well, I might not have been in the same position as you before, but I think that's rational. I'm pretty sure that I'd be a little confused too."

Courtney smiled faintly and then sighed. "I wish I could be sure that this is really happening."

She was slightly taken aback by the huge smile that suddenly broke across Bridgette's face. "I was hoping you'd say something like that."

* * *

"Bridge, are you sure this going to work out?" Courtney asked apprehensively, looking around the small parking lot a few yards away from the resort.

Bridgette, eying the crew workers unloading camera equipment from one of the vans, grimaced before replying, "Not entirely."

Courtney sighed inwardly, now feeling regret over agreeing to the little plan Bridgette had proposed at breakfast. Really, what were the odds of them actually managing to get out of the resort area anyway? They had all been told shortly after their arrival at the resort to ask the at the resort crew to go out and get whatever they needed that wasn't there already. There was no damn way that Courtney was going to ask for a pregnancy test though. Sadistic Chris and all the ratings-thirsty producers would probably have a field day with that little tidbit of information.

So of course, Bridgette's plan of stealing one of the crew's vans and trying to find a store themselves had seemed like a _great_ idea. At first. In a stroke of brilliant luck, they had somehow managed to steal the keys to a van and make their way to the parking lot, without being noticed. The inconspicuous part was probably helped though, by the fact that they had gotten Cody and Noah to go around the place and disable some of the "hidden" cameras that were there to capture any "dramatic" moments that might occur. Now all they had to do was filch the van and get far enough away that the crew would just give up and wait to interrogate them when they finally decided to come back.

Courtney shook her head. All of this just to be sure that this pregnancy wasn't just a false alarm? If they went through everything and then it turned out that she wasn't, Courtney really didn't know how she'd react. It would definitely be a _little_ frustrating though.

"Okay Court," Bridgette suddenly whispered, bringing her from her thoughts, "run to that van over there, right… now!"

The two girls quickly sprinted to the van she'd pointed out, and Bridgette unlocked the driver's side door. Courtney scrambled in and crawled over the center console to sit in the passenger's seat, as Bridgette had already declared herself driver for this escapade. Shoving the key into the ignition, Bridgette started the van, her and Courtney grinning as the crew in the parking lot starting yelling and running over to them. Laughing at their futile attempts to stop them, the girls high-fived one another, giddy over their successful escape.

"Hey Bridge?" Courtney asked between breaths.

"Yeah?"

"We're going to have hell to pay when we get back."

* * *

Bridgette pulled off of the road and into the small lot of the pharmacy they spotted further down the road. Cutting the engine, and carefully stepping out of the van, she and Courtney made their way into average-sized store. It was surprisingly spacious compared to the outside, even with all of the people looking around. It had about ten aisles, but none of the signs stating what each aisle had, which meant that they'd have to go through each one to look for their item seeing as all the staff were busy with other customers. Going up and down each aisle, Courtney and Bridgette scanned every shelf, growing more and more disappointed when they didn't find what they were looking for. Courtney was about ready to give up as they turned the corner to search the second to last aisle.

"Bridge, maybe we should just-"

"Oh my god Court, there they are!" Bridgette exclaimed in a relieved yet excited tone, cutting her off.

Courtney looked quickly to the area where Bridgette was headed and hurried over after seeing that their whole reason for coming to this place was spread across a number of the shelves, right near the condoms. Courtney chuckled to herself. She had always thought that was a little ironic how stores always put those items near one another. Her amusement quickly ceased though when she finally looked at _all_ of the different tests.

"Which one do I get?" she asked incredulously.

"I don't know Court, I've never been pregnant!" Bridgette said, eyes showing uncertainty as she looked over the wide variety of brands, types and costs.

"Well, to narrow the um, field, how much cash do we have on us?"

Bridgette suddenly palmed her forehead in blatant aggravation. "Damn it, I forgot to bring money! I can't believe we went through all of that and I forgot money! What are the odds of us pulling all that off again?"

Courtney pulled her friend's arm back down to her side in a pacifying gesture. Then reaching into her short's pockets, let out a relieved sigh when she heard the unmistakable crinkle of a bill. Drawing it out, she gave Bridgette a smile and handed it to her saying, "It's a twenty."

Bridgette smiled calmly, now assured that their scheming and stealth work wasn't all done in vain. "Okay, twenty bucks. That narrows our options somewhat."

Looking back at all the boxes, Courtney scanned a few of the fronts before picking one up from among them. "This one says 'Early Pregnancy Test'. I'm pretty sure that's the kind we should get. I mean, it hasn't been that long since I missed my period."

"How long has it been?" Bridgette asked, picking up another box. "I think you need to have an approximate number of days to be sure when to use it."

"About a week maybe. Which is weird for me; it usually comes a little early each month."

Bridgette looked at the box she was currently holding. "Well, it says on this one that you can use it up to five days before you expect your period. So if yours should've already come and gone by now, then you could probably get away with using a different kind."

Courtney nodded and put the box she'd been holding back on the shelf. "Hey, what about this one?" she asked, quickly grabbing one and holding it to Bridgette for viewing. She scanned the box, mumbling the words printed on it to herself before smiling.

"That'll work."

Quickly making their way to the register, the girls paid for the test and hurried out of the store, ignoring the weird looks people were giving them for their haste. Courtney silently said a little thanks in her head that the show wasn't scheduled to air for another few months. She would've probably died of embarrassment had any of the people at the store recognized her.

As Bridgette started the van, Courtney took the box out of its bag and started to open it.

"You're not going to use that _now_ are you Court?" Bridgette asked with wide eyes.

"Of course not!" Courtney said, a little taken aback, "you have to pee on it! I'm not about to pee in a van!"

Bridgette laughed, now fully realizing how ludicrous her question had been. "Sorry, stupid question. What are you doing then?"

Courtney finally got the box open and took the test and the instructions out. "I'm going to hide them. Do you really want them all to find out exactly why we decided to go out for a joy ride in one of the crew's vans?"

"Right," Bridgette said as Courtney shoved both things in her pocket, "you could throw the box and everything else out in that trash can over there," she pointed to where it was, "I'll wait right here for you."

Courtney did so rapidly and hopped back into the van, closing her door as Bridgette began to pull out of the lot and get back on the road to the resort.

"Maybe you should wait to the use the test, Court," Bridgette said after a minute of thoughtful silence.

"After we went through all of this to get it?" Courtney replied, her tone slightly cross.

"Well, that's part of why you should wait. I mean, we did all of this stuff that's probably going to earn us our own personal stalkers at the resort, it wasn't all that cheap, and you only have one. What if you use it wrong because you have to hurry so the crew doesn't think you're trying to pull another escapist stunt and the result is wrong? You're not going to be getting another one for a while unless you ask, and you know what would happen then."

Courtney grimaced at the thought and at the fact that Bridgette was probably right.

"I'm just saying Court, it'd be best if you waited until the tension caused by this 'break-out' eases. You don't want to screw it up."

"I know Bridgette. Even though it would be nice to know as soon as possible, I guess that you're right," she sighed, "why does this all have to be so complicated? It feels like everything is being drawn out just to torture me."

Bridgette smiled sympathetically. "It's all because of this crappy show. Speaking of which, what are we going to do when we get back to the resort?"

Courtney grinned at her friend. "We're going to lie our asses off."

* * *

**A/N: So that's it. What you've waited I think like, a week for. Was it good enough?? Only you can tell me. In a review!! If you want to, that is. Tchau!!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Fifth chapter. Yes, I know I promised a faster update. I'm sorry that I lied. So yeah, here it is!! Also, I'm sorry if you think that this story is maybe getting a little redundant or anything, but the next chapters should be better if you are thinking that. I'm also pretty sure that this story might be over soon. Maybe three or four more chapters. Something around there. Okay, that's it... for this author's note, that is. lol.**

**Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure I don't own Total Drama Island. But if you want to give it to me, that'd be pretty flippin' sweet.**

* * *

Emerging from the crowded game room, Courtney strode lightly through the resort's main living area, twirling randomly in mindless contentment. Hearing the game room door click shut, she reveled in the sudden silence that the barrier offered. Although she definitely wasn't going to complain anytime soon about how "together" everyone was, she also wasn't going to lie about how it could get to be a little too much at times. Especially since she knew these people actually cared about her and didn't feel obligated to talk or hang with her, like in her own family. It wasn't something different and therefore, unsettling. At least in her case.

Now more dancing than actually walking, Courtney opened the sliding door leading to the pool and stepped out, turning to close the door again. Upon turning to face her destination of the lounge area, she immediately wished that she had stayed in the game room with everyone else. There, together on one of the patio chaises were Geoff and Bridgette. Now had they been awake, Courtney wouldn't have minded their presence all that much as they were usually making out anyway. But now, watching them nap so peacefully together, she felt as though she were intruding on a special moment; something that she shouldn't have the privilege of seeing.

Besides that little detail, she couldn't help but feel… jealous. Of Bridgette. Her _friend_. Courtney winced slightly, ashamed that she could be jealous of someone as giving and deserving as Bridgette. But still, here Bridgette was curled up next to her guy while Courtney wasn't even sure hers _wanted_ her anymore! It, it-

"It's not fair!"

It was a second or so before Courtney quickly covered her mouth and looked over to the sleeping couple near her, embarrassed and slightly angry that that particular thought hadn't _stayed_ a thought. To her extreme relief, the two were still completely unconscious; the only reaction to her outburst being a barely audible murmur from Geoff as he pulled Bridgette closer to him, seeking to protect her even in unconsciousness. The jealousy reared its grotesque and despised head once more and Courtney felt like crying and screaming at the same time. She quickly beat the feeling back, determined that she wouldn't lose her cool; determined to not let anyone see just how much she was hurting, just how confused and desperate and terrified she felt. The last thing she wanted was to cause any worry at all over her well being. She didn't want to trouble them with her problems when they were all so happy here together. After the show, it would probably be a while before they all got the opportunity to get together again and she wasn't about to ruin the time they had left.

Courtney's thoughts were interrupted when Bridgette shifted slightly in her sleep, the fabric of the lounge chaise making a wind-like sound. Not wanting to end up doing something stupid that would wake the pair up, Courtney turned back around and went into the foyer, sliding the patio door shut as quietly as she could.

Quickly deciding against returning to the boisterous game room in her current volatile mood, she made her way into the entertainment room. Courtney was glad to see that nobody else at the resort had decided to flop on one of the sectionals before she had thought to do so herself. Snatching up the remote that was set on the large and modern looking coffee table, she switched the plasma screen on and began flipping through channels. It wasn't long before she gave up on finding anything interesting or worthwhile and turned the thing off. Huffing in irritation, she tossed the remote aside and crossed her arms over chest.

"Nothing good on?" a voice asked, making Courtney jump and look around in surprise.

She quickly spied Noah standing in the room's doorway and heaved a sigh in of relief. "You scared the hell out of me, Noah."

He grinned and strolled over to the sectional, taking a seat next to her. Fully shaking out of her shock, Courtney shifted until she was facing side and drew her legs to her chest.

"So what's up, Court? Why aren't you in the game room?" Noah asked casually, shifting his eyes in her direction as he leaned back on the couch. His gaze sharpened slightly when he saw Courtney grimace in discomfort before composing herself.

"I just needed some air. It's no big deal."

"Usually when people need some air, they step out quickly and return to the same room. It seems that you've done the exact opposite. You sure that you weren't maybe a little overwhelmed?"

Courtney looked at the know-it-all with wide eyes. "Why would you think that?"

"Maybe because you're still not used to being around that many people? Or being around a bunch of people that actually _care_ about you?"Courtney's eyes only got wider with each word that Noah spoke. Was she really that easy to read?

"No, you're not," Noah said matter-of-factly.

She frowned at realizing she had said something that was supposed to stay a thought for the second time today before responding. "Oh really?"

He gave her a faint smile before saying, "Yes really. In fact, it's usually pretty hard to decipher exactly what you're feeling. It's what makes you so _interesting_," he tacked on slowly at the end with a sly grin.

Courtney giggled. "Are you trying to _flirt_ with me, Noah?"

The teen's grin rapidly turned into a full-blown smile. "Maybe."

"Any particular reason?"

"Well, I figured that it would make you smile over the ridiculousness of it. _Me_ trying to flirt? Anyone would crack a smile at that. Also, I figured I should probably get this form of 'cheering up' in before Duncan finally gets here. I'm fairly certain that he wouldn't appreciate me putting the _moves_ on his girl."

Courtney was laughing in agreement to Noah's words before she abruptly stopped, making a slight choking sound. Noah looked at her concernedly as she struggled to keep her expression cool and composed. He sighed when she buried her head between her knees, still fighting for a calm appearance.

"You know you're allowed to have problems, Court," he said softly.

She looked up at him and he was a little shocked to see her eyes brimming with tears and rimmed with a heartbreaking shade of red. He was even more shocked when he suddenly felt a hand shoot out from nowhere and sharply slap the side of his face.

"What on earth did you do to this girl, egghead?" a scolding voice asked him. He looked up to see the furious visage of Leshawna sending him a withering glare. Despite the fact that he was currently the target, he couldn't help but admire how Leshawna always seemed to show up when someone was distressed. An angry snapping of fingers in front of his face brought Noah back to the current situation at hand and the stinging sensation that was now flaming across his cheek.

Lightly touching the side of his face and wincing at the tenderness, Noah replied calmly, "I swear, I didn't mean to do anything."

"That don't change the fact that you did something!"

She looked about ready to strangle him when a shaky and whispery voice suddenly said, "No Leshawna, it's okay. Noah was just trying to help."

The two of them quickly looked to Courtney, both dismayed and concerned over her expression: a tragic mix of confusion, worry, and sorrow. They had never seen her display such raw emotion- even when angry- and they wondered just how much of it she was keeping to herself. It couldn't possibly be healthy.

Leshawna sent an apologizing glance to Noah, which he wordlessly accepted with a slight wave of his hand, as though he hadn't just received a slap that was now leaving a mark on his right cheek. He watched as Leshawna sat down between him and Courtney and wrapped her arms around her slightly shaking body, sighing with relief when she leaned into the larger girl's comforting embrace. Leshawna began to make those redundant cooing sounds synonymous with consolation and he heard Courtney's muffled sobbing. Needless to say, Noah was extremely worried and confused. Neither were feelings he was fond of, but the latter was more so and he started thinking.

What could possibly have her in such a state of despair? Apparently Leshawna was wondering the same thing as he heard her ask Courtney quietly while rubbing soothing circles on her back, "What's the matter, girl? You know you can tell us, whatever it is."

It was a few minutes before Courtney's sobs gradually calmed into hiccup-like breaths and she looked up at Leshawna, tears still clinging to her eyelashes. Voice trembling in the aftermath of her crying, she spoke so quietly that even Leshawna had to strain to hear her. "I don't really know where to begin. I'm so confused."

Leshawna's eyes hardened for a brief second. "This is all because of that punk ain't it, hun?

Courtney looked down at her hands, nodding subtly.

"You love him, don't you?" Leshawna asked quietly.

Courtney laughed, but it was hollow and brief. "That's the only way I would've slept with him."

Leshawna nodded knowingly, "I figured as much. You're not some whore like Heather, willing to use anything to give yourself an edge. Look at what she did to Gwen and Trent!"

"You're afraid that he doesn't feel the same," Noah suddenly said, drawing both girls' attention to him, "you're terrified that now you've given him everything you can give, he won't want you anymore and he'll walk away without a word."

From the look on Courtney's face, both Noah and Leshawna could tell that he'd hit the nail right on its proverbial head. "H-how did you know?" she stuttered incredulously.

"It's a reasonable fear," he responded, "it's popped up in quite a few of the books I've read."

Leshawna looked at him with raised eyebrows, "You read _those_ kinds of books?"

"Hey! Some of them actually have pretty interesting plots and decent writing," Noah defended himself while at the same time giving it away that he read romance novels. Leshawna just shook her head slowly and Courtney laughed over the banter between her friends; a genuine laugh. She couldn't believe how much better she felt now that she was really talking about the things that had been plaguing her mind since she had first gotten on the Boat of Losers to come to the resort. It seemed like such a long time ago despite the fact that it had only been about a month. In reality, not that long of a time.

Eventually, the two turned their attention back to Courtney and were relieved to see her looking much less distraught than she was earlier. Approaching her and placing her own hands on the mocha-haired teen's shoulders, Leshawna spoke firmly. "I can guarantee that boy is head over heels in love with you; he just about admitted it to me himself when we were handcuffed to one another."

Courtney smiled faintly as she remembered what Leshawna had told her about that particular challenge. But the image of her dragging Duncan around the island like a dog was dissolved when she continued to speak, "And, if for some reason that creampuff comes here acting all indifferent toward you, I will personally beat that love right back into his scrawny white body."

She said it so matter-of-factly that Courtney couldn't help but laugh again; and with that one laugh she even better than she had after the first one. And _creampuff_? Of all the things to call Duncan, she chose a creampuff. That thought elicited yet another laugh from her, making Noah and Leshawna smile over their friend's much improved countenance. Noah figured that while the mood was light, it would be a good time to ask Courtney another question.

"Why didn't you want to tell anyone about how you were feeling, Court?"

He was extremely relieved when her smile didn't falter, her eyes didn't water, and her voice didn't even change in its contented tenor. She simply said, "I didn't want anyone to worry about me."

Leshawna let out a shout of laughter and suddenly wrapped Courtney in a lovingly tight hug, which she heartily returned despite the randomness of it. "Girl," Leshawna began, "that is one foolish want you have. Do you not notice how someone is trying to watch over you or ask you how you're doing? And I'm pretty sure that when Duncan finds out what's in that belly of yours, you're not going to have a lot of time to yourself. He's going to follow you around like a lost puppy!"

"Or a ridiculously protective watchdog." Noah chimed in, grinning.

And as Courtney looked over Leshawna's shoulder and out the window to Lake Wawanakwa, she could only think, '_I sure as hell hope so._'

* * *

Duncan walked calmly down the Dock of Shame and flung his duffel bag in, making sure it hit Chef's legs. Grinning at the look of rage that passed over the muscular man's face, he hopped deftly in and prepared himself for the ride to where ever the godforsaken Boat of Losers was going to take him.

Quickly tuning out the annoying hum of the old boat, Duncan sat down with his back to the railing and leaned his head against it, looking up at the sky. His thoughts rapidly drifted to what had become their favorite subject over the past month; Princess. It was pathetic really, just how much he missed her. He wondered if she even thought about him anymore, where ever she was.

He grimaced to himself. He had never felt so insecure before, about _anything_. But of course Princess wasn't just anything to him- she was everything. Duncan's grimace slowly morphed into a lovesick and lopsided grin. Normally he would've scoffed at such a cheesy thought, but he really couldn't give a damn now. He'd finally found the one thing in his life that was worth fighting and waiting for and he'd go through hell and back again to keep her with him. Courtney was his and he'd make sure that by the time this suckish show over, she and everyone else wouldn't _ever_ have any reason doubt it.

Duncan grinned even wider. Princess had _no_ idea what was coming for her.**

* * *

  
****A/N: There you have it. The fifth chapter of my story. Feeling the love?? Or brewing the hate?? Let me know in a review if you feel like it. Tchau!!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Okay, I can't believe I actually got this chapter out today!!! Honestly, when I woke up this morning, this chapter had only about 5 sentences. I just typed and thought my ass off to get this chapter out today. Mainly because my friend Katie has become truly addicted to this story and just stares at me blankly at school until I write something down so she can read it. lol. So thanks to Katie, I had motivation to really get going on this chapter. My lazy fat ass would be nothing without her!!! So now, without further ado; Chapter 6!!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Total Drama Island.**

* * *

The light conversation on the resort's patio abruptly ceased when Sadie and Katie burst excitedly through the sliding glass door. As they hopped up and down with smiles on their faces everyone looked expectantly to the two ridiculously energetic girls, waiting for them to say something. Or implode. Whichever came first.

"Oh. My. Gosh," the BFFLs squealed in annoyingly perfect unison, emphasizing each word.

'_Maybe implosion would've been a better option,_' Courtney thought as she winced at the high pitch emanating from their mouths.

"What is it now?" Noah snapped, cautiously removing his hands from his ears. Courtney looked at the two girls from her position propped up on a flattened lounge chair on her elbows and shook her head in disbelief. They were blissfully unaware of how their constant interruptions- which had been frequent in occurrence since they'd gone inside to look at some tabloid magazines the producers had dropped off- were irritating even the most composed of the campers congregated outside.

"Yeah," Eva growled in her usual angered tone, "is there a new shade of nail polish out that you're _dying_ to try?"

Courtney raised her eyebrows at the way Eva stressed that particular word. Clearly the frenzy of perkiness and random outbursts was putting Eva in more of a murderous than angry mood. The fitness buff only grew darker in expression at Katie's oblivious response.

"No silly! We found that out like, a half an hour ago!"

Noah and Trent had also noticed Eva's state and quickly motioned for Courtney to do something to ease the atmosphere. She narrowed her eyes in response, a little peeved that she had to be the one to be the diplomat. Her piqued temper quickly dispersed though when she saw Eva rise from her seat, fists clenched.

"So what was it that you wanted to tell us _this_ time?" Courtney said quickly.

"Oh!" Sadie said after a moment of thought, "we just saw the Boat of Losers out on the lake!"

The exclamation got everyone in a frenzy as the made their way inside of the resort, going to the huge window in the entertainment room that looked out onto the lake. Sure enough, a few yards in the distance was a boat-like shape making its way to Playa des Losers in the dimming light of the slowly setting sun. By Courtney's estimation, it would arrive in around ten minutes or so. Upon having that thought run through her mind, she rocketed up the stairs to get to her room so she could change out of her swimsuit and into some normal clothes. Closing her door, she rapidly stripped the slightly damp fabric off of her body and rifled through her dresser for some undergarments. As she fumbled one-handedly with the clasp on her bra, Courtney used her other hand to grab a pair of dark wash jean shorts and a random top from her closet.

Letting out a small screech of frustration, she flung the shorts and top on her bed and finally succeeded in latching her bra clasp. Cursing vehemently under her breath about the offending article of clothing, she viciously yanked on her shorts and pulled the top on over her head. She struggled to find the arm holes in her shirt and was getting even more aggravated until she realized the thing was strapless. Straightening the purple and yellow striped material so it wasn't bunched, she turned to look in the mirror out of habit. She frowned at how the shirt exposed her stomach slightly, but brushed it off as unimportant before taking another quick second to rake a brush through her hair. Once satisfied, she slipped on a pair of white flip flops and headed down to the resort's dock where almost everyone else was already gathered and waiting for the boat.

"What took ya so long, girl?" Leshawna said loudly, her arm draped over Harold's shoulders. Not that the geek looked like he minded.

Courtney smiled widely at the girl, still unbelievably grateful for her and Noah's support in the entertainment room earlier that day. After a second though, she scowled and answered Leshawna's question, "My damn bra clasp didn't want work right."

The larger girl laughed. "Yeah, those stupid things will do that from time to time. Leave it to a man to come up with something so dang aggravating! No offense, honey," she said, looking at Harold.

"None taken," he said, smiling and wheezing slightly.

Courtney looked out toward the lake where the once boat-like shape was now actually starting to look like a boat. "Who do you guys think is on there?"

The others looked around silently in thought, none of them entirely sure who would setting foot on the island this night.

"I hope it's Heather!" Lindsay suddenly exclaimed from behind Noah. The know-it-all jumped as he hadn't noticed her arrival a few second before.

"Oops! Sorry Norbert!" the ditz said apologetically.

"That's alright Lindsay," he responded putting his hand over his heart, "I always wondered what it would be like to have a heart attack at sixteen. And my name's- ah, never mind."

Courtney suppressed a chuckle over the exchange. Just about everyone had given on Lindsay ever getting their name right, although Tyler was _still_ just trying to get her realize that he actually was Tyler. The guy had an iron will, that's for sure.

"Well, although I'd hate to see Heather here," Cody began, "I think it would be pretty sweet to rub her face in the fact that she lost. For the few more days that we're here that is."

Everyone laughed in agreement, all picturing different ways to torture and get revenge on the scheming, conniving and manipulative Heather. Looking at the grins on some of the other campers' faces, Courtney had a very strong feeling that some of the images were more than a little brutal.

"It could be someone else though," Trent suddenly said, breaking everyone out of their thoughts of persecution. At that moment, everyone one turned slightly to look at Courtney, and she knew just who the "someone else" that they were all thinking of actually was. She looked down at her feet, still unsure of how everything would pan out, even after the earlier talk in the entertainment room.

"You know we're here for you Court," Bridgette said softly, walking up to her friend and giving her a tight hug. She removed one arm to gesture to everyone standing behind her on the dock. "We're _all_ here for you, every single one of us, no matter what Duncan says or does. If he's even on that boat right now."

Courtney looked at everyone over her friend's shoulder and was completely shocked to see them either smiling or shaking their heads in full agreement with Bridgette's statement. Even Eva, who didn't really seemed like she would give a damn about what went on with anyone else's life but her own. Courtney was speechless. She had never really been overly nice to any of these people on the island, yet here at the resort they were ready to support her confused self to the point of "beating some love" back into Duncan. As if sensing Courtney's amazement, everybody on the dock seemed to decide that they wanted to shock her even more and came together in a huge group hug.

When they all broke apart after a few seconds, Courtney's face was the epitome of stunned. But finally, she regained her ability to speak. "Wow you guys. I-I really don't know what to say."

"There's no need to say anything," Eva said gruffly. Then she smiled, "We can fill in the blanks ourselves. Now get ready, the boats coming up fast and if I'm not mistaken, I can see something green blowing in the wind."

Courtney just about got whiplash as her head snapped quickly to look out on the lake at the rapidly approaching boat. And sure enough, when she looked at the figure leaning against the boat's railing a slightly limp portion of bright green hair flapped haphazardly along with boat's momentum-generated wind.

* * *

Duncan looked impatiently towards Chef from his spot at the fore of the boat. "Can't you speed this piece of crap up?"

He grinned inwardly at the vein that suddenly popped up on the horrible chef's forehead, but kept his outward expression annoyed.

"Boy!" the larger yelled over the wind, "I drive this boat whatever speed I wish! You best be grateful I didn't throw your sorry ass in the lake when you came down the dock!"

Duncan simply rolled his eyes at Chef's ranting and turned to look at the island that coming into view. He noticed the outlines of people standing on a dock and cursed the now almost complete dark for hindering his sight. The tiki torches illuminating the side of the dock didn't provide that much light, and the only people he could make out really weren't that important to him. All he cared about was seeing Princess again and everyone else could wait until he'd had his time with her.

The boat grew closer and closer to the island and finally Duncan could make out the figure of his girl. He contemplated jumping over the railing into the water and swimming the rest of the way to the dock, but decided against it. '_Princess probably wouldn't want me to touch her and get her clothes all damp_,' he thought, grinning.

After another minute, Chef eventually pulled up to the dock and Duncan grabbed his bag and hopped off before he could even bring the boat to a stop. The ridiculously muscled man shook his fist angrily and started to go into another rant, but Duncan had already forgotten about him. In fact, he had completely tuned out everything, including all the greetings he was receiving from the other campers and was making a bee-line for Courtney. When he reached her, in front of everyone gathered, Duncan pulled her front to his and bent his head down to pressed his lips gently against hers. After a second, Courtney let out a contented sigh and wrapped her arms around his neck and he deepened the kiss in response.

The other campers began applauding loudly, the guys throwing a couple of suggestive remarks for good measure. The couple broke apart in the midst of all the clapping and Duncan rested his forehead against Courtney's, his teal eyes now darkened with lust looking lazily into her dazed onyx ones. She blushed at something Geoff had yelled at them and Duncan grinned at the party boy before pulling Princess even tighter against him and resting his cheek lightly on the top of her head.

He nodded his head slightly while still nestled on her soft hair in acknowledgement of the greetings and "good nights" people were giving him on their way back to the resort. "Did you miss me?" he asked quietly when the last person was halfway down the dock.

Courtney let out a small hum of pleasure and lightly nuzzled his chest while hugging his torso as tightly as she could. Taking that as an affirmative, Duncan suddenly picked her up bridal style and started walking towards the resort. As he walked, he gave her small kisses on her neck and face at random moments and she laughed elatedly. He found himself grinning like a lovesick fool and reveling in her laughter, confident that everything between them was going to be just fine.

**

* * *

A/N: And that is it folks!!! I'm really sorry if you're starting to not like this story, or feel like it's getting redundant or whatever. And in case you're wondering, there should be a lot more of Duncan in the next chapter. I know I've just really been giving short snapshots of his thoughts so... yeah. More Duncan real soon. That's all I got to say. Leave if a review if you feel like taking the time m'kay??? Kay. Tchau!!!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hier ist Kapitel 7!!! I'm so glad that I got it out today. You readers who are still actually bothering to read this story, I thank you. You readers who are bothering to read this story and then review, I grovel at your feet. And with that, let the chapter begin.**

**Disclaimer: I think you know who owns what by now.**

* * *

"Come on, babe!" Duncan practically whined as he leaned his forehead on the door that was keeping him from what he wanted. He grinned slightly when he heard the faint chuckle over his pleading, but quickly morphed his expression into a pout once more.

"No Duncan," he heard Courtney say, "there's no way I'm letting you in my room. You have your own. Go sleep there."

"I don't like that room."

A sigh came from behind the door. "You're being impossible."

"_You're_ being a prude."

Duncan was startled when the door he'd been leaning against was suddenly pulled away from him and he fell, face first onto the hardwood floor of the room. He heard Courtney inhale sharply and lifted his head up slightly to see her crouch down and reach out to him without even thinking, worry evident in her features. Then upon realizing what she was doing, she pulled her hands stiffly to her sides and righted herself.

"I'm not a prude," she said tartly.

Duncan grinned and propped his upper body up by leaning on his elbows. One hand rubbing the spot on his nose that hit the floor particularly hard, he watched Courtney stride over to her window seat and plop down on it with a huff. It took the delinquent a minute to become conscious of the fact that she was finally letting him into the room, but when he did, the grin on his face rapidly changed to his infamous smirk. This only served to darken the glare Courtney already had on her face as he stood up, crossed fully into the room, and closed the door behind him.

Not really wanting to ruin any chance of Courtney getting over her anger soon, he simply sauntered his way over to her bed and laid on it so he was staring up at the ceiling. It was silent between them for a minutes and Duncan began to grow fidgety in the smothering quiet. But just as he was about to break the silence between them and try to ease the tension permeating the room's atmosphere as best as he could, Duncan felt something crawl up onto the bed and hesitate momentarily before resting partially on his chest. He knew without even having to look that the "something" curled up against him was Courtney and he draped his delicately around her small waist, hugging her closer to him.

"I'm sorry," he said softly after they'd laid there together for a moment.

"That's okay," she slurred sleepily, eliciting an amused smile from him, "I kind of overreacted. But then again, my mood hasn't been completely stable lately, what with the circumstances and all…"

Courtney's voice grew fainter with each word she spoke as a result of her sudden fatigue and Duncan had to strain his hearing to catch the last few words. He was about to ask her just what "circumstances" she was under that it affected her mood, but she was already fast asleep next to him. Realizing just how tired he was himself, Duncan resolved to ask her in the morning and he reached over the bedside table and turned off the lamp that was rested on it. After all, they still had a couple of days together; he'd only just arrived a few hours ago. Yawning, he wrapped his arm around Courtney once more and began absentmindedly stroking her silky mocha locks, the rhythm produced by the action eventually lulling him to sleep as well.

* * *

Duncan was only partially conscious when a sudden shiver wracked down his spine that caused him to roll onto his side and curl up into a ball for warmth. He was just about to sink back into the welcoming cloud of slumber that was enveloping his mind when he shot up into a sitting position and started to look wildly around the room, searching for Courtney. His movements and thoughts grew increasingly frantic as he flung himself off the bed and went to the closet, hoping that maybe she was just trying to psych him out or something. Panic mode started to kick in when he didn't find her in the closet or even when his desperate hope of finding her under the bed was unfulfilled.

'_Why would she just leave without telling me?_' he thought anxiously, '_What the hell did I_-'

Duncan's thoughts immediately ceased when the door slowly opened and Courtney stepped lightly into the room, clearly making an effort to stay silent while she gently placed a mesh bag next to the dresser. She looked up and started slightly when she saw him standing there, but a smile quickly spread across her face. Letting the door simply click shut after pushing it, she strode over to him and stood on her tiptoes to give him a peck on the cheek.

"Morning!" she said brightly, stepping back and beaming at him.

He gave her a small smile in return, her modest kiss still causing his skin to tingle pleasantly. But then he frowned and her smile faltered.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Why did you leave me?" he responded after a few seconds.

Courtney gave him a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"

"When I woke up," Duncan said, as though explaining something to a child, "you weren't here. Why?"

A brief look of irritation flickered over her face at the tone he was using before she responded a little confusedly, "I just went to take a shower, Duncan. I wasn't gone that long."

He ran his fingers through his disheveled hair in frustration. "Well, I was… really worried."

The look of confusion still on her face cleared away after his hesitant statement. She stepped forward gave him quick hug before looking up into his face and saying, "I'm sorry that you were worried."

He sighed. "Will you just tell me next time?" he asked quietly, wincing slightly at how weak and needy he sounded.

She nodded with a small smile then grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the door. "Come on," she said cheerfully, "it's time for breakfast!"

* * *

Duncan watched as his girlfriend devoured what had to be nearly twice her body weight in food. The others sitting at the table in the dining room with them were grinning in amusement over his blatant shock. Courtney herself was grinning in between bites of her meal, clearly enjoying the fact that she'd managed to practically paralyze the hardened delinquent.

"Is this what you normally eat every morning?" he questioned amazedly after finally breaking free of his stunned state of mind.

"Yeah, it is," Noah cut in, chuckling.

"Damn."

"As if you weren't chowing down yourself!" Courtney shot in, giving Duncan a mock glare. He laughed loudly at that, mainly because it was true. After having had to put up with Chef's nauseating concoctions for a good while now, he hadn't held back when he saw the large array of food that was actually edible.

"That's true," he said after his chuckling had subsided. He looked around at the others seated at the table. "So what is there to do in this place?"

"Well," began Bridgette from her seat next to Geoff, "we usually just hang out around the pool. But there are game and entertainment rooms too."

"I'm fine with hanging outside," Duncan said before turning to look at Courtney. "You done?" he asked, gesturing to her plate.

"Yeah," she replied with a grin.

"Then let's go, Princess."

He was somewhat surprised when she wasn't put off by the nickname and just smiled. Grabbing their plates, he placed them in the service bin and followed her outside. About ten of the campers were already out and having a good time and Duncan could hear the steps of some approaching the sliding doors behind him and Courtney. Still following her path to the pool, he was extremely taken aback when she started peeling off her clothes. He was more than relieved when he realized that she had her bathing suit underneath her shorts and top and watched as she neatly folded the clothing and placed it on one of the lounge chairs near her. Apparently her tendency to make everything neat and pristine hadn't completely faded after her chaotic time on the island. He grinned at the thought as he pulled his layered shirts off of him and draped them carelessly next to Courtney's clothes. He then made a mad dash for the pool and dove in headfirst, hearing Princess' shout of laughter at his sudden enthusiasm. Resurfacing, he swam leisurely to the edge of the pool where his girl was sitting and submerging her feet in the cool water.

"So what did you think of the dive?" he asked smugly, resting his chin on her knees.

She looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking. "I've seen better."

From the grin on her face Duncan knew she was just teasing him, so he decided to play along. He shifted his eyes up to look into hers and fixed his face into a pout that would put a four-year-old to shame. Courtney's grin grew wider and she let out another laugh, all while shaking her head.

"You're a child," she told him, mussing his hair playfully.

He grinned at her before reassuming his pout. Leaning down she kissed his jutting lower lip, but pulled away sooner than he liked thanks to a sudden set of identical squeals from Katie, Sadie, and Lindsay.

"Aww! They're _so_ cute together!" Beth chimed in from her lounge chair.

Courtney blushed and bit her lower lip, something that Duncan found unconventionally adorable and endearing. Of course, he found all of her little idiosyncrasies charming; hardly anything she did was unappealing to him. Shaking that thought from his head, he suddenly got an urge for a little mischief.

"Why don't you come in with me?" he queried, wrapping his arms around her dangling legs and starting to pull her into the water. Her eyes widened and she pushed his face off of her knees, which served to make him let go of her legs as well.

"No thanks," she said, "I've already been a victim of _that_ ruse. Besides, I'm thirsty."

"Coward!" he called as she walked away.

"You know it!" she yelled, then looking back added on, "and stop looking at my ass, you ogre!"

Chuckling, he turned from the edge just in time for Geoff to tackle him back underneath the water. As he propelled himself back to the surface, Duncan smirked and formulated a plan of attack. If it was a war they wanted, it was war they'd get.

* * *

Courtney watched from the wet bar as almost every guy at the resort (and Eva) engaged in a much more brutal version of her and Trent's splash war from a few weeks ago. She cringed a little when DJ tackled Ezekiel, and then turned around on her stool to take a swig of her soda. She smiled when Bridgette dove into the pool and swam over to the wet bar to join her. For a few minutes the two girls just sat together in companionably, each shouting words of encouragement and warning to their respective guys.

"Whoo! Nice tackle Geoff!" Bridgette yelled enthusiastically.

"Duncan!" Courtney shouted, almost falling off of her seat, "Look out behind you!"

She grinned when Duncan moved just in time to avoid being Trent's next victim in the seemingly never-ending war. She reached for her soda again only to be thwarted by Bridgette grabbing it and taking a large gulp.

"Hey! Get your own, Bridge!" she said laughingly.

"Sorry, Court," the surfer girl replied as she reached over the bar's counter to grab another soda, "I couldn't resist."

"That's alright," she said slyly, "because that means I can do this-" And she grabbed the new can from Bridgette's grasp and took a draught. Smirking, she handed the can back to her friend and laughed when she glared at her. The glare didn't last all that long though as Bridgette placed her drink on the counter with Courtney's and looked at her with a knowing smile.

"What's that look for, Bridge?"

"Oh, I was just wondering… how things between you and your lover are going."

Her eyebrows rose curiously at her choice of words, but felt her face grow hot for the second time this day. "Everything's going fine."

Bridgette's face suddenly adopted a serious look before she gently questioned, "_Everything_, Court?"

Courtney grimaced sadly at the reminder of her current condition, "Well, not… _everything_. I-I still haven't told him yet."

Bridgette's eyes suddenly got wide and Courtney froze when she turned around on her stool and found a curious Duncan and an obviously nervous Geoff pull themselves up onto the other seats at the bar.

"What haven't you told me, Princess?" Duncan asked softly, cupping her face in his hands when she tried to look away. When her eyes still wouldn't meet his, his brow creased in confusion and (if he was being honest) a little bit of hurt as well. He looked over his shoulder to Geoff with a look that asked 'What should I do?', he looked back at Courtney uncertainly when Geoff just shrugged. She was still looking away from him.

"Princess?" he asked again, hoping for a response, _any_ response, "Courtney?"

At that, her eyes finally met his. He wondered if it was because he'd finally used her name, or because his voice had abruptly gotten a rather desperate tone to it. "Please," he said gently, "_please_ just tell me what you need to."

For a moment he thought that she was going to look away again, and he said a silent thanks in his head she didn't. He was about to plead with her again when she suddenly took a deep breath and said one of the only things that would've ever caught him off guard.

"Duncan… I think I'm pregnant."

* * *

**A/N: Haha. Do any of you hate me yet for making you wait for yet another chapter to find out what Duncan will think of this little occurance??? Was there enough Duncan and Courtney moments in this chapter??? Or do you want more??? Why don't you tell me in a review??? If you wish. (Also, does anyone not like anything about this story??? Whatever it is, I'd like to know for the next thing I write.) Tchau!!!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hot damn! Over 100 reviews??? I feel so freaking amazing now!!! No joke. Anyways, I'm so sorry that this chapter took so long. You see, originally, this was part of a super long chapter that I was still in the process of writing. So I just took this part, added a few sentences here and there to make it longer, and voila! Chapter 8.**

**Disclaimer: The chances of me ever owning Total Drama anything are non-existent.**

* * *

Pain. Pain coursed through every cell in Courtney's body. And as she watched Duncan walk away from her and into the resort, that pain made her want to scream. He hadn't said a word. Not a single damn thing. Instead he'd just blanched and then turned expressionless, his hands falling from her face to his sides. Courtney barely believed it. She'd expected anger; she even expected disbelief or suspicion. But this! This... nothingness just tore her apart on the inside.

Courtney felt the liquid misery of tears begin to streak down her cheeks and drop into the pool water surrounding the wet bar she couldn't seem to move away from. She began to hear the murmurs of others who were just realizing what had happened. She fought to tune it all out. She closed her eyes and covered ears, bowing her head so that her hair draped over her face. In the darkness of her mind, she almost achieved a sort of numbness that was welcomingly relieving; until she remembered his face. The face she loved marred with a look of complete apathy. For her. For their _child_.

It was too much. She tried to scream, but all that came out was a choking sob that wracked through her entire body. Courtney felt herself slipping from her stool toward the water, but she couldn't find it in herself to care. Having her heart ripped out of her chest had already created enough tears to flood her. What was a little more water on her face... engulfing her body... in her lungs? Would it really be so horrible to drown?

She heard yelling start up around her, followed by frantic splashing. She didn't hold back a flare of anger and desperation when she felt arms hold her back from the water she'd been anticipating.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" she screeched through her tears, fighting against the arms.

A calm albeit slightly shaky voice answered her. "We're preventing you from doing anything drastic."

Courtney went still. "What else am I supposed to do?" she eventually asked in a soft voice.

Bridgette's tone lost the unsteady edge as she sighed. "Just try and stay calm okay? There has to be a reasonable explanation for this..."

At hearing the hope in her friend's voice, Courtney couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope herself. She quickly beat it back as the arms finally saw it fit to let her go. She turned to look at her previous captors and the spectators of her struggling; most of them visibly unnerved by her blank stare. Soon all of them except Geoff, Trent, Noah, and Leshawnahad waded away from her and Bridgette at the bar. Frustrated that she couldn't drivethem away as well, she turned back around to face Bridgette. She grimaced at seeing the look of expectancy on the surfer girl's face and tried to think of a way to answer her without breaking down again.

"What explanation?" she eventually bit out as she wiped a stray tear from her face, "That Dun- that _he_ doesn't give a damn about me? That he doesn't want me now?" Her voice broke slightly on the last word.

Bridgette frowned sadly. "There _has_ to be something else. Duncan-" Courtney flinched at his name, "-might be a criminal, but I don't believe he could be _that_ cruel."

She scoffed acrimoniously at Bridgette's statement. There was no explanation, of that she was sure. And yet, the foolishly naïve and hopelessly lovesick part of her mind wouldn't just die out. No, it couldn't help but latch desperately onto Bridgette's words like goddamn life support.

* * *

'_Fuck!_' Duncan thought violently as he suddenly turned and punched the porous plaster covering the outside walls of the resort. He heard a small crack that was quickly followed by sharp pain in his hand, but it only served to anger him more. Why wasn't he feeling more pain? He should be crippled with agony over doing something so completely stupid and damaging. To _Courtney_. He'd done this to his princess and the only retribution for it was a miniscule ache in his hand! He abruptly slumped back against the side of the building, sliding down its surface and into a sitting position. After sighing and running a hand through his still damp hair, Duncan rested his chin on the tops of his knees. Raising his eyes, he looked out miserably at his view of Lake Wawanakwa.

'_I've ruined her life_,' he thought, flinching. And how could he think anything else? It was true. It was painfully obvious- now more than ever- how career and goal orientated Courtney had been. And now, just because he couldn't take no for an answer; he couldn't resist the slightest challenge; he couldn't _wait_ at all, he'd destroyed every goal Courtney had ever laid out for herself. She should loathe him now. Why wasn't she screaming profanities and throwing things at him? How could he have been so reckless when it came to her? With every other girl he'd been with, he was always so careful to make sure nothing like this happened. Then again, none of them had ever come close to affecting him like Princess did. Compared to her, all of the other girls- he mentally cringed at just how many there were- came up as superficial and forgettable. Of course, out of all those girls, he was immensely thankful that it was Courtney he'd made _this_ blunder with. Duncan sighed and leaned his head against the wall, unfolding his legs out from his chest at the same time. But what the fuck was he going to do? Courtney was _pregnant_. Pregnant! And they were both only sixteen years old! He was at a complete loss of how to handle something like this.

'_Maybe you should go and find out what __**she**__ wants to do._' A sudden voice remarked scathingly in Duncan's head, making him start in surprise and momentarily forget his dilemma. When did he become schizophrenic? The voice sighed.

'_Don't be a dumbass. Just do what you're told. For once._' Duncan felt a random flare of his earlier anger scorch across his psyche at the voice's words. What right did it have to mock and insult him? This was a serious situation, and he was doing the best he could. He stood up prepared to damage something in his anger, but the feeling passed as quickly as it had come. He realized that as much as he disliked this new mental Jiminy Cricket that had decided to plague him, he really couldn't think of anything else to do himself. Duncan started retracing his steps, intending to go back to the pool and find Courtney. '_My shirt too_,' he thought as a slight chill went through him. He sighed in relief when his "conscience" didn't comment.

Rounding the corner, Duncan smashed into someone and fell backwards. "What the-?" he heard a rather loud and familiar voice say. He heard the rush of air signaling someone turning and looked up. He only briefly registered Leshawna's irritated face before a pair of hands shot out from nowhere and grabbed him by the throat, pushing him up against the resort wall once more. He frantically grabbed at the hands until one of them let go momentarily to punch him in the stomach. After all of the air had 'whooshed' out of him, Duncan found it significantly harder to draw in more. He started clawing at the hands once more, only to receive a hard punch to the side. He was definitely going to have some bruises later.

"_Whoa_girl," he heard Leshawna say warningly, "at least let him catch his breath before you go at it. It ain't no fun hitting a corpse now is it?"

Duncan heard his assailant huff in what could only be disappointment as she let him slide down against the wall. "That's debatable."

Drawing in wheezing breaths reminiscent of Harold, he willed the black spots clouding his vision from air loss away. After a minute, he could actually see things that didn't look like someone had flung black paint at them. Of course, when he finally looked up and saw Leshawna's livid visage, the black splotches didn't seem all that bad. The malicious grin of Eva only enhanced that realization. When the two took notice of the fact that he finally regained proper usage of his trachea, they both assumed slight fighting stances. By then it was needless to say that Duncan was completely flabbergasted. He was pretty damn sure he hadn't done anything the least bit offensive to either of them yet. Unless Leshawna had found out about that noogie he gave Harold the night before when Princess had first gone to her room...

"Look Leshawna," he eventually said, "if this is about that noogie I gave Harold, then I'm sorry. Did you really have to bring Eva into all of it though?"

Duncan's voice faded with each word he spoke as her look turned murderous. He felt his eyes widen when he looked over to Eva. When she noticed his gaze, her features grew alarmingly evil and slightly sadistic. It was creepy, even for Eva. He knew that he must've looked absolutely terrified, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. He stayed frozen in a tense and fearful silence, waiting for one of them to say something.

"You think this is about _that_?" Leshawna said in a voice that was dangerously soft.

Duncan swallowed audibly, past experiences telling him that staying silent would probably be the best option for him to take now. But despite his fear, he couldn't help but feel a little frustrated. What could he have possibly done wrong? He hadn't even been at the damn resort for a day yet! His thoughts were quickly scattered when Leshawna drew in a sharp breath.

"Boy," she half yelled in a very Chef-like tone, "when you just walked off from that pool, did you even think about what... _message_ that might've sent to Courtney?"

Duncan blanched. Of course he hadn't thought about that. Sure he'd been thinking about what Courtney thought concerning the situation, but nothing about how she'd take his… reaction. Leshawnaseemed to derive her own answer from his silence as he noticed her nod subtly to herself. For a second, a look resembling pity flashed across her face before it resumed its incensed gaze.

"I take it you get the point then," she said coldly. Duncan nodded and inwardly flinched when Eva took a menacing step toward him. "Well," she continued in the same voice, "you might _get_ it, but you still haven't _felt_ it yet."

His eyes grew wide. "W-What do you mean by that?" he asked, hating how his uneasiness made him stutter.

Eva's grin suddenly went manically eager as she answered him. "We're going to beat the shit out of you. For Courtney, of course." Her grin was replaced briefly be a shudder, "I don't think even we'll be able to recreate _that_ kind of pain though. It was unnerving how potent it was, even when she was just looking at you."

Duncan contemplated whether or not Eva added that little comment on just to make him feel worse. Already his guilt was making him sick to his stomach. He sure as hell hoped he could make it up to Courtney somehow. That is, if she would even let him within fifty feet of her after all of this. There was absolutely no way that there wasn't going to be a point soon in which she would finally just give up on him. He just had to pray that the point was still a couple of miles farther down the road.

Quickly standing up, he braced himself for the first punch from Eva thrown his way. It was marginally harder than he'd expected and he felt his breath leave him again. Duncan desperately tried to draw in a gulp of air even as Leshawna's fist made contact with his stomach. Stumbling slightly, he wondered just how long this assault would take; he had some serious groveling to do.

* * *

**A/N: So there you have it. I hope it didn't disappoint at all. Oh, huge MAJOR kudos to my uh-mazing fellow writer melancoliefor giving me the fabulous idea of Duncan getting the shit beat out of him by Leshawna AND Eva. I'm sure she could've written it a million times better but hey, I tried!!! lol. So yeah, uber mucho thanks to you melancolie!!! **

**Okay, you know the drill: Leave a review if ya have the time!!! Tchau!!! **


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Surprise! Guess who has another chapter out! ...Oh yeah, you probably knew it was me already, huh? Damn. Stupid story alert with the emails that tell you what story's been updated! That just totally ruined the surprise. *starts mumbling profanities under breath about story alert emails* Well at least it was a fast update, right?**

**Oh, just to let you guys know, you have caused me to lose any chance of winning the bet between myself and my friend and fellow writer, Katie a.k.a CandleFire678. A week or so ago, she bet that I would get at least 200 reviews for my story. At the time, I was about four away from 100 already so I said 120. I now have over 120. I'm so glad that there wasn't any money involved in this! lol. Anyway (although I doubt it will happen) if I get 200 or more reviews, Katie will win. Let's see how it all pans out, shall we? XD Alright sorry, that was just a digression. ON WITH THE STORY!**

**Disclaimer: Ich besitze nichts. Wie lahm ist das?**

* * *

Courtney absentmindedly wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye. She rubbed her finger slowly against the comforter to dry it off. Once satisfied, she shifted her head on the pillow trying to get a better view out of her bay window. It wasn't a particularly comfortable position that she ended up in, but she didn't feel like stretching out on the bed yet. She couldn't really remember how long she'd been all curled up into a ball; she knew it had been since the moment she fell on the mattress though. Judging by how stiff she was, she figured it had to have been an hour at the most. She could tell from the light outside that it was still pretty early. Around ten or so.

Sudden yelling from outside of her door caused Courtney to tense up, straining her already rigid muscles. After a second she became significantly more relaxed. Whoever it was, Bridgette and Geoff would drive them away. The two had been adamant about making sure that she remained undisturbed as long as she wanted. They were as good as any bouncers at a club. She smiled sadly at the thought of how well they worked together, but stopped when she felt another tear slide down her face. She was done with crying, it only wore her out in the end. Emotionally, mentally, and physically.

The yelling was soon silenced and Courtney said a silent thanks in her head. The last thing she needed was a headache on top of everything else. She began humming tunelessly to herself, randomly plucking at the plush thickness of the grey material under her. Barely a second later, she head her bedroom door slowly open and froze mid-pluck. In her current state, she'd become acutely aware of the sights and sounds around her and knew that neither Geoff nor Bridgette was the one who'd come to see her. The steps that made a resonant thud on the hardwood floor were too heavy to be Bridgette's footsteps, and the thuds were too far apart to be Geoff's leisurely gait. Not really ready to deal with whom she suspected it to be, Courtney closed her eyes and curled even more into herself. She heard the thuds stop to the side of her, and then felt slight spurts of cool air blow onto where her face rested against her knees. Breathing. Someone was breathing on her. She tried to ignore it in hopes that he would go away, but how are you supposed to ignore somebody breathing on you?

Courtney squeezed her eyes shut briefly as a sort of preparation for what she would most likely see when she opened them. It was then that she noticed that she couldn't feel the breathing anymore. She opened her eyes quickly out of curiosity more than anything else, and frowned in puzzlement when she didn't see anyone staring back at her. So much for her acute awareness. Abruptly, she felt something unexpectedly cold touch her lower back and gasped loudly in shock.

"Sorry," she heard him murmur.

Without thinking, Courtney uncurled and rolled over quickly in order to make sure that she wasn't just imagining Duncan being there. '_Too quickly,_' she thought with a wince as an uncomfortable twinge shot through her sore body. She felt him shift and looked up to see him hovering over her, a look of concern on his bruised face.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

His worry for her caused a lump to lodge itself in her throat. She deeply wanted to ask him the same thing; as well as where he'd gotten all of those bruises and scrapes from. But she didn't really trust herself to speak coherently at the moment. Instead, she bent her arm at the elbow and winced again at the ache let from her period of immobility, hoping he would catch on. He did. His pierced face lit up with comprehension and he moved to sit cross-legged to the side of her. Then, with slow and deliberate movements, he gently rolled her over until her back was to him. The lump in Courtney's throat grew larger as she realized that he was giving her an opportunity to push him away, to refuse him as he had her. She wondered why she hadn't done that to begin with. She wondered why she was letting him near her, let alone lay a hand on her. Even if it was just to soothe her stiffened joints.

Duncan seemed to sense her thoughts and stopped the rhythmic circles he'd been rubbing on her body. Courtney wasn't at all discomfited to admit to herself that she immediately missed his touch. Hell, she'd missed it since the night she'd been voted off! That was another thing she was done with. Denial. If it hadn't been obvious that she liked- no, _loved_- him before, then the fact that she was pregnant with his child made it pretty damn clear that there was at least some attraction between the two of them. That was more than likely the reason she hadn't been so completely shocked when she realized that it actually was him in her room. It wouldn't surprise her if it turned out her subconscious had simply decided to cut out all of the petty bullshit that had kept them from being together. In her opinion, she should have attempted to do it sooner.

Shaking her head to clear it of thoughts concerning her not-quite-epiphany, she turned over to look at Duncan. Even with her movement he was looking away, up at the ceiling, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. Courtney tried to think of a polite or subtle way to get his attention. Huffing quietly in frustration, she decided just to blunt about it.

"Why didn't you say anything to me back there?"

Duncan looked down at her instantly. His features contorted in remorse and shame before he made a visible effort to appear in control of his expression. Her face softened in response to seeing how deeply his actions had affected him. Shifting until she was sitting cross-legged in front of him, she reached out and gently touched his bruised cheek. He looked into her eyes uncertainly for a minute before sighing.

"Well, it was mainly because I was... shocked. I mean, of all of the things you could've told me- that was the last thing I expected. It caught me off guard," he admitted rubbing the back of his head abashedly before continuing. "And then, even before I- before I left," he said reluctantly, "I started thinking about how I'd _really_screwed up this time. Then I sort of went into this trance-y thing, and that's all I could think about. Just you... and how I'd fucked up your entire life just because I couldn't keep it in my pants. So to speak. In all honesty, I had been completely unaware of how my just leaving might've looked to you. I was thinking of you, just not about that particular moment. And you know-"

Duncan was cut-off when Courtney suddenly moved her hand from his cheek to cover his mouth. Staring at her with wide eyes due to her abrupt movement, he was relieved to see her looking amused despite the seriousness of the situation they were trying to figure out.

"Duncan," she began smoothly, "shut up."

Completely taken aback, Duncan did the only thing he could think of doing in response. He laughed. Loud and breathy laughter that shook his entire body as well as the bed. And, instead of looking at him like he was crazy and needed mental help, Courtney burst into laughter herself. It was unbelievable. The room had been filled with such an intense and gloomy mood not a minute ago, and now here they were laughing as though nothing had ever been wrong! It was like a paradox... or something like that.

The two kept laughing, and laughing, and laughing until the moment their eyes met. Then, still on the same residual brain wave, they stared at one another in a surprisingly comfortable silence. Despite that, Courtney rapidly felt her face turn hot under Duncan's unwavering gaze, and was about to look away when he suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders. She looked at him with wide eyes as he seemed to search her face for something. Appearing to have found what he was looking for, he let out a sigh, and pressed his lips to hers. It took only a second for her to respond and drape her arms behind his neck. He deepened the kiss and she gasped at the feeling she'd only ever felt when with him. He pressed her down onto the bed until she was lying beneath him, a knee on either side of her hips and broke away, panting. Still breathing heavily, he dipped his head and started placing soft kisses along her jaw line. She wrapped her legs around his waist and heard his breath catch. Looking up into his face, she was astonished to see that his normally teal eyes had darkened to bluish black. It was still hard for her to believe that she could have such an effect on him.

Unhooking one of her arms from around Duncan's neck, Courtney lightly traced his features. Her fingers danced slowly over a small bruise on his cheek and she again wondered where he'd gotten them from. She tried to think of a way to bring it up, but it was then that he spoke and sent her thoughts into a state of disarray.

"I'm sorry, Courtney."

"W-What?" she replied in a dazed voice.

He sighed and bent his head down so that their foreheads touched. "I said that I'm sorry."

She stared at him in slight confusion. "For what?"

He lifted his head from hers to look at her incredulously. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Not really."

He sighed again before elaborating. "I'm sorry that I was such a thoughtless bastard and left you without a word."

"Oh," Courtney said, her confusion cleared away. "But don't you think that this," she tightened her legs around Duncan's waist, "constitutes as forgiveness?"

He stared at her dumbfounded for a moment prior to giving her a genuine smile. She felt her heart pick up speed in response. It stayed at that speed even when a brief frown passed over his features.

"I just don't get it. Why aren't you more upset about all of this?" he asked curiously, gently brushing a strand of hair to the side of her face.

Ignoring the still rapid pace of her heart, she frowned in thought. "You know, I was actually thinking about that myself a few minutes ago," she eventually said.

"And?"

"Well, I guess I'm just fed up with everything that's been working against us, you know? I mean first there was Harold getting me voted off-"

"Wait a minute," he suddenly said with a sharp tone, "_Harold_was the one who got you voted off?"

"Yeah… you didn't know that?"

Duncan just shook his head and mumbled. All Courtney could make out were the words 'deserved' and 'noogie'. She decided that she didn't want to know. She laid there silently as he continued to mumble on, patiently waiting for him to finish. It was a few moments before he finally noticed and grinned at her crookedly. "Sorry. _Please_continue speaking, my dearest Princess," he said sarcastically, trying to cover up his embarrassment. His "tough" act was ruined though by the playful nuzzle he gave her nose with his own. An Eskimo kiss. Courtney almost giggled over Duncan doing something so cute and sweet. She loved this side of him, especially since she was the only one who he ever really let see it. It made her feel- well, it made her feel _special_. Like she had something that nobody else did. It was a feeling she had really come to enjoy.

Blushing, she pushed her thoughts and aside continued on with what she'd been saying before. "So besides getting kicked off of the show, there was this whole misunderstanding, and then when I was so confused about how everything would work out between us when you actually got here. God, I was so broken up over thinking that you might… well, that you might not want me once you were voted off! That you would completely ignore me once you arrived or something like that. I spent most of my time in this place just worrying about it."

Duncan stared at her for a moment, disbelief written all over his face. "You seriously thought that I…" he trailed off before asking, "Are you high, Princess?"

"Ex_cuse _me?"

"Well, that's the only way I could possibly understand how you came up with that idea! Not want you? Were you fully conscious that night we had sex? Because I'm pretty sure that _that_, if nothing else, sufficiently proves that I want you."

The blush that Courtney believed had finally faded away returned with a vengeance at the bluntness of his words. Duncan smirked in response.

"That aside," she finally went on, "how was I supposed to know that you didn't just want me that one time? I didn't really want to believe that of you, but it's not like I had any evidence telling me otherwise! I honestly didn't want to even consider that, Duncan," she said in an effort to ease the pained look that had started to morph his visage, "you have to believe me. I-I just, I was so uncertain about _everything_to do with us; together."

He sighed for what seemed to be the umpteenth time that day, turning his head away momentarily before looking down at her beneath him again. "I really can't blame you at all for thinking that, Courtney." She smiled in reaction to him using her name. "I should've made it clearer that you weren't just someone I was looking to have a short summer 'fling' with. I should've just told you then. God, I'm such a fucking idiot."

"Told me what?" she asked curiously, after frowning over him calling himself and idiot. Only she should be doing that.

He took a deep breath."I should've told you that…" she waited expectantly, but when he didn't pick up from where he'd trailed off nervously, she decided he needed some prompting.

"That what?"

He looked at her uncertainly before saying in an apprehensive tone, "I love you."

* * *

**A/N: So, yeah. You know how that last chapter was part of a super duper long chapter that I hadn't finished writing? This chapter is part of that chapter too. All of it was supposed to part of chapter eight. And I'm still writing based on what began as that chapter. Ridiculous, right? But hey, I'm getting things done faster this way!**

**Same as always: Leave a review if you feel like it. I don't care if you do or don't. I just want you to enjoy the story. Tchau!!! **


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: My gosh, I'm so damn sorry about how long it took me to update. Ifeel even worse because I know that I told quite a few people that the update would be really soon. Again, I'm sorry. Please forgive me.  
Okay, now, about the chapter. I'm really not sure if I like this one. Maybe it's just me, but the end gives me a feeling of redundancy. Also, I didn't have anyone read this chapter before I posted it. Usually my sister or Katie will tell me if I've written shit or not. Sadly, those of you who review will be the ones to tell me how horrible this chapter was. I hope that at least one of you enjoys it though. That's all I really care about. So please, read on.**

**Disclaimer: Do you really think I could own something as awesome as TDI? If you do, you need some psychiatric help.**

* * *

For once, it was Courtney's turn to stare incredulously at Duncan; something that she seemed to be taking full advantage of. He stared at her, clearly uncomfortable, but she couldn't seem to find her voice. Instead, she simply tightened her arms around his neck and buried her head in his chest as a hug of sorts. She felt herself being lifted up off of the bed and held on tighter in slight shock. He lifted himself onto to his knees, with her still clinging to him like ivy. Once situated, she felt him wrap his arms tightly around her and kiss the top of her head. She smiled against his chest and hugged him even harder. After a moment, she tried to say something to him, but it was muffled by the fabric of his shirt.

"What?" he said, letting her go enough so that she could lean back and speak audibly.

"I love you too," she reiterated with a smile.

He stared at her with a staggered expression that was much akin to her own look of astonishment when he'd confessed. She wondered why it would be such a shock to him. What had happened to all of that confidence he'd displayed so readily on the island? For god's sake, she practically oozed love for him everywhere she went! How could it not be obvious to him? Her thoughts were suddenly scattered by him leaning forward to rest his head on her collar bone. Not that she really had any objections. She smiled fondly at him before beginning to rub small circles on the exposed skin on the back of his neck with one of her hands. She heard him hum contentedly until with a laugh in his voice, he said, "You know, that whole 'I love you' moment wasn't half as corny or nauseating as movies make it out to be."

She pushed his head off of her and hit him lightly on the shoulder. "You always know how to ruin a nice moment, don't you?"

"Only when I know how to make it better again," he murmured softly, prior to giving her a loving kiss on the mouth. Still in the high of their confessions, it wasn't long before the kiss turned from innocent to passionate. Courtney didn't protest when Duncan pushed her down onto the bed once more, or even when his fingers moved downward to dance tantalizingly over her still flat stomach. They broke apart briefly to catch their breath, and he slowly lowered his weight onto to her. He watched her face intently, wanting to see what had been lost to him in the darkness that had served as their cover for the first time. She let out a sound somewhere between a gasp and a moan at the feel of him contoured perfectly against her. As if that was all of the encouragement he needed, Duncan's fingers suddenly grew frantic in their movements. They quickly darted to the fly of her denim shorts and fumbled with the button on them as a result of their hurry. Courtney didn't doubt for a second that things would have swiftly escalated from there had the two not heard the sound of laughter coming from outside of the door.

Blushing even more profusely than she thought would _ever_ be possible, she untwined her arms from around his neck and dislodged his frozen fingers from her shorts. Her movement seemed to knock Duncan out of his stupor and he frowned before trying to move his hands back down to where they had been. She shook her head in dissent and a low whine emanated from the back of his throat. He yanked softly against the hold of her hands on his own, already aware that his efforts were futile but still willing to try. The corners of her mouth turned up slightly in response to his childish behavior, but she still shook her head 'no'. Sure, _he_ might not have a problem with it, but there was no way in hell she was going to get… intimate with him when Geoff and Bridgette were probably only a few feet away. She couldn't believe she'd actually forgotten about them. He sighed disappointedly and fell sideways onto the bed. Rolling over onto his back, he snaked his arm under her shoulders and pulled her up against his side. She willingly snuggled up against him, resting her head on his chest like she'd developed a habit of doing. Looking up at his still pouting face, she decided that it was as good a time as ever to ask him about those all of those bruises and scrapes.

"Duncan?" she asked.

"Yes, Princess?"

She rolled her eyes but still smiled at his pet name for her. "Why do you look so… beat up?"

He grimaced but then said dismissively, "Don't worry about it."

She raised an eyebrow at his response. Didn't he realize that would only make her more determined to find out what had happened? "No, tell me," she said, her curiosity evident in her tone.

"No."

She glared at him and he just smiled back, unfazed. But then, a brilliant thought struck her. She would get the answer out of him for sure. Courtney's glare slowly melted into a rather evil smirk and Duncan couldn't hide the sudden concern he felt for his own future health. She gently pushed his arm off from around her shoulders and slowly moved to straddle him. Placing her hands delicately on the upper part of his chest, she leaned forward until her seductively smiling face was mere inches from his own.

"_Please_," she breathed after a moment, happily noting the dazed look on his face, "won't you tell me what happened?"

Duncan was astounded that he could even hear her over the rapid beating of his heart. He was also intensely shocked that he wasn't drooling yet. It took everything he had in him to refuse her. It was especially hard seeing as his new mental friend was practically screaming at him to just tell her. Apparently consciences were easily manipulated by the cunning of temptingly sexy women…

Courtney leaned back, almost frowned and in turn, just about ruined her entire ploy when he shook his head in place of saying no. She had thought for sure that he'd cave. Weren't guys supposed to crazy over that stuff? '_Oh well_,' she thought wickedly, brushing her irritation aside, '_I guess I'll just have to up the ante_.'

Reassuming her licentious smirk, she suddenly leaned back down and barely brushed her lips against Duncan's. She pulled back slightly to give him a lazily confident look and run a hand through the shock of green hair on the top of his head. Although she had no idea why, she knew that it was something that really turned him on. His sharp intake of breath only served to prove her right. She fought the blush that threatened to return as she remembered the rather blunt words he'd used to tell her _that_ little fact. Finally succeeding in beating the accursed redness back, she repeatedly ran the fingers of one hand through the soft green atop his head, as though she were petting a cat. She almost burst out laughing when his head lolled back and he let out a sound that was damn near a purr. As if realizing the same thing, Duncan grinned abashedly before reaching up to grab her wrist and disentangle it from his hair.

"Why don't we stop with that before I do something really embarrassing?" he remarked, his grin shifting to a lazy smile.

Courtney frowned. "But I wasn't done yet!" she complained prior to mumbling, "All of that was supposed to make you tell me what happened."

A look of mock surprise adorned his features. "You were trying to _seduce_ me into telling you, Princess?"

Her frown deepened and she didn't respond, crossing her arms over her chest indignantly. Duncan chuckled before lightly pushing her off him. She landed on her back, arms still crossed. Sitting up and then scooting to the edge of the bed, he stood up walk a few steps away from the bed before stopping to stretch.

"You know," he said mid-stretch, "that was pretty damn hot."

"What was?" she said, still miffed.

"You."

She scoffed and he spun around to look at her still on the bed with her arms crossed, a frown to rival hers appearing on his face.

"What was that for?" he asked, a little peeved that she doubted him.

"Well," she began in a slightly disdainful tone, "if it was _so_ hot, then it would've worked the way I wanted it to!"

Duncan sighed. He looked at her for a moment before muttering, "Leshawna and Eva."

Courtney finally uncrossed her arms and used them to prop her back off of the bed so that she could see him better. "What was that?" she asked, "I didn't hear you."

"Leshawna and Eva," he repeated loudly.

She then got off of the bed in much the same way that he had, by scooting. After standing up she walked over to him in a way that could only be described as curious. Stopping in front of him, she reached up to touch one of the bruises on his face. She was glad to note that a few of them were already starting to lose their purplish tinge and fade somewhat around the edges. "They did this to you?" she asked in a vaguely disbelieving manner.

He bent his head a little bit to look her dead in the eye. "Yes."

"Why?"

"Apparently," he said with a grimace, "I needed some sense _beaten_ into me, because 'only a fool would walk away from the best thing that had ever happened to him.' ...Or so Leshawna said as she gave me this lovely bruise right here," he finished, gently patting the hand she'd placed over a rather nasty bruise on his left cheek.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For not trying to go after you myself," she said quietly while looking up at him. "If I had, then maybe _this_," she lightly circled the bruise with her finger, "could've been prevented."

He calmly wound both of his arms around her waist before saying, "You shouldn't have done anything differently, Princess. I was the one who did the most damage."

She opened her mouth to defend his actions but he cut her off by pressing a finger to her lips. "But you know," he continued once sure that she wouldn't speak, "there's only one thing that's still kind of bothering me about this whole thing."

"What?" she asked anxiously.

Duncan smiled at Courtney reassuringly. He uncoiled an arm from her waist to reach up and gently tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Don't worry, babe," he said softly, "it's nothing major."

She visibly relaxed and stepped forward to rest her head on his chest in her relief. "Then what's bothering you?" she eventually asked after a deep breath.

His arm found its way back with to rest with its mate on her lower back before he responded. "Well, you said that you _thought_ you were pregnant. Now, not that I don't trust you or believe that whole thing about women knowing their bodies, but shouldn't we try to make that '_think'_ a little bit more definite? Do you think we could get our hands on a test or something around here?"

Courtney smiled widely. "You know Duncan," she began, "it's funny you should mention that…"

* * *

"You really did all of that, Princess?! Just for a stupid pregnancy test?!" Duncan asked amusedly through the door. Both he and Geoff had been stunned when the girls had finally caved to their pleading and told them just how they'd gotten their hands the EPT.

"Could you not try to have a conversation with me while I'm doing this, you ogre?" Courtney yelled back. She turned briefly to look at a grinning Bridgette sitting on the rim of the incredibly tiny bathtub. In fact, just about everything in the bathroom they were currently occupying was tiny. She was glad to overlook that aspect though in favor of the privacy the location provided. She'd have to remember to thank Beth again for finding the small room next to the sauna the next time she saw her. Turning away from the door her delinquent lover insisted on loitering around, she grabbed the box containing the pregnancy test from where she'd placed it on the sink counter. She heard Bridgette get up from her seat and walk the few steps over to where she was standing.

"So how do you use it?" Bridgette asked curiously, grabbing the box from Courtney to find the instructions.

"You pee on it, Bridge," Courtney replied. She laughed when Bridgette purposely dropped the box and eyed it with disgust.

Courtney bent down to pick it up, still chuckling to herself. Righting herself, she opened the box and took out the thin stick inside. Pulling the tiny cap off of the end she revealed the small bit of white that the test would be useless without.

"You're supposed to _pee_ on that tiny thing?" Bridgette asked, still skeptical.

"Bridge-" Courtney began. She was suddenly cut off by Duncan yelling through the wood of the door again. "Are you done yet?"

"Could you be patient, Duncan?" she replied exasperatedly. She heard him give a shout of laughter and quickly turned to face her surfer friend, irritation evident in her features. "Can't we do something about him?"

Bridgette grinned in amusement. "Threaten him with abstinence?"

Courtney laughed. "And have to listen to him complain every waking moment? I'd be better off just getting this done with!"

Bridgette nodded, and still chuckling, made to leave the room in order to give Courtney some privacy. "Oh and don't worry Court," she said as she opened the door, "I'll make sure no _criminals_ try to pull a 'B and E' on you."

Courtney grinned as Bridgette closed the door behind her, but it faded as she looked back down at the test stick. She couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed about the idea of the four of them outside the door being near enough to hear her while she was using the bathroom. But as the gallon of Sunny D she had gulped down a less than a half hour ago finally caught up with her, that feeling was ignored. Finishing as quickly as possible, she paced the test on the counter once more, flushed and washed her hands. Looking away, she waited a few seconds before turning to peer at the tiny screen that would tell her what she was dying to know. Grabbing the stick, putting the cap on the end, and slipping it back into the box, she opened the bathroom door to find three anxious looking faces. After biting her lip, she took a deep breath and smiled wider than she ever had before. And that smile was all that was needed for the true celebrating to begin.

In the midst of a bone crushing hug from Duncan, Courtney dropped the box. The test slipped out and the result was there for anyone close enough to see. There, on the small screen, was a single digitalized word.

Pregnant.

* * *

**A/N: So there you go. The unfabulous chapter 10. Luckily for those of you who now hate this story, there's only going to be one more chapter after this. Which brings me to a really IMPORTANT part of this author's note:  
**

**I received a really awesome review from Black Wolf Jaganshi Lover (I hope you don't mind that I used your PenName) asking me about a sequel for this story. Now, I have absoutely no qualms at all with doing this as I already have a plot idea, but I want to be sure that it won't be a waste of my time. You can tell me if you'd like a sequel in a review (if you wish to leave one), but my real decision will be based on poll I've put up concerning it. Oh, and for those of you who don't know, on the poll: "Ja" is yes and "Nein" is no. Sorry, I'm obsessed with German. lol. So, if you'd like a sequel, make sure you vote! Danke fuer lesend und tchau!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: And here it is: DIE LETZTE KAPITEL! I thank you all for waiting so long for this chapter without sending me hate emails or anything. lol. I'm sorry it took me a while but I had a load of shit to do. I know that's a horrible excuse but whatever. That's how it be. So yeah, I'll end this author's note and just let those of you who actually read what I write in these things get on with the chapter. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Nein, Total Drama Island ist nicht mein.**

* * *

"Duncan!" Courtney yelled laughingly as he scooped her up bridal style, "Put me down!"

"No dice, Princess," the delinquent replied, laughing as well.

"Come on, you ogre," she continued while playfully beating on his chest, "Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I can't walk on my own!"

Duncan grinned down at her in his arms. "Sorry love, I'm not going to risk it."

Courtney sighed but didn't complain anymore about it. There was really no stopping him in this matter. He had been adamant in carrying her _everywhere_ she went. And although she wasn't making light of the sweetness of the action, when coupled with everything else he was doing, it was driving her crazy! In the last day, she had lost the ability to do anything for herself! Well except for going to the bathroom, that is. _That_ was where she drew the line. Of course, that didn't stop him from standing directly in front of the door to wait for her and asking her if everything was still okay the minute she stepped out. For crying out loud, you would've thought that she was going to go into labor at any minute with the way he doted on her!

But of course, she couldn't bring herself to say anything overly harsh to him about it. She knew that he was still beating himself up over not making things between them more definite before she left.

He carried her out onto the patio and carefully set her down on a lounge chair next to Bridgette before making a running dive into the pool. As the splash he made resonated through the air Courtney let out another sigh and turned to face Bridgette.

"So how goes it?" she asked her surfer friend.

"Eh, can't complain," she replied, directing her eyes to the part of the pool Geoff was leaning against. "How about you, _Mrs._ O'Dell?" she asked with a smirk.

Courtney rolled her eyes but still smiled. "Bridge, were not married yet. Besides, I'm still okay with being a Langford for now."

"'Yet' being the operative word."

She laughed. "Yeah. But as for how we're doing? He's driving me _crazy_!"

Bridgette look at her curiously. "How so? I mean, isn't he doing like, everything for you? I would love it if Geoff did that for me."

"Yeah, I thought I'd love it too when I first realized what was going on, but now it really is too much. I feel like I'm being suffocated!"

"Well, did you tell him that?" Bridgette asked.

"Uh... no, not exactly."

"Then tell him, Court! My god, if you're with him all of the time there should be plenty of opportunities to let him know!"

"Bridge, it's really not that simple. I don't want to hurt his feelings or anything. You know how horrible he still feels about everything."

Bridgette shook her head. "Court, as heartless and self absorbed as this sounds, you're the one who matters the most right now in your relationship. Is he the one with a child inside of him? No. So if you don't want him up your ass 24/7 then _tell_ him. He's a man, he can handle a few harsh words from his girlfriend."

Courtney sighed and ran a palm nervously over her face. "You're right. I know you're right. I just... I don't know."

"Look Court," Bridgette began, "if he went through getting the shit beat out of him by both Leshawna and Eva and then still came crawling back to you, then he won't have a problem with you telling him to back off some. He has Geoff, DJ, Trent, Tyler, and even Harold and Noah to hang around with instead of driving you insane!"

"Alright, Bridge. I get it. He can handle it and I should really just be worrying about myself right now," Courtney said with a small smile.

"Damn straight," Bridgette smiled. "Okay," she continued, slapping her thighs lightly, "enough of this 'serious' talk, let's have some fun!"

Courtney laughed, got up off of the lounge chair and linked arms with the waiting Bridgette. "So what are we going to do?" she asked lightly.

"Uh... I dunno. Wanna dance?"

"Yeah sure, why not? Let's go crazy!"

Bridgette let out a shout of laughter and walked with Courtney to and area near the pool where a slightly aged stereo was set up on a small table. Courtney unlinked her arm from Bridgette's and started going through the small pile of CDs next to the stereo. She was really in the mood for something kind of light and had a good beat. Something... indie, or maybe alternative. Finding something that fit her criteria she grabbed it and spun around to get Bridgette's opinion. She smiled when her friend wholeheartedly agreed to her selection and urged her to put it in.

"I haven't listened to this CD in a while," Courtney commented as she slid the disc into stereo and waited for it to be recognized.

"Yeah, me neither," Bridgette replied as Courtney hit the stereo lightly to get it working properly, "It's one of those CDs that you usually don't listen to unless you feel like it. And you forget how good the music is until you actually listen to it again."

Courtney nodded in agreement to the statement. She hit the stereo again and smiled happily when the CD began spinning audibly. She turned the volume up as loud as it could go and pressed the play button. A few of the people outside who hadn't been paying attention were caught off guard by the music and jumped, giving the two girls a very enjoyable laugh at their expense. Done laughing, Courtney turned back the stereo and skipped to track four of the CD and immediately started dancing the second the lyrics poured from the speakers. Bridgette laughed at Courtney just basically jumping around to the beat but joined in anyway. They kept doing that for the first verse and the bridge of the song, but when the next verse came along Courtney decided to pretend that she was on an actual stage and jam out. So she ran to the very edge of the pool and grabbed her imaginary microphone, singing to the amused campers that were watching.

"_Sticks and stones may break my bones;_

_Your words they surely kill, they surely kill._

_This feels the same._

_Complications and different situations._

_I am holding our love._

_Is it worth it to die a little each day? All for unseen craze._"

Courtney was having blast, laughing at the playful catcalls some of the guys were courageous enough to give her while Duncan was still around. But as she was about to go into the chorus, she leaned forward a little too far, lost her balance, and fell headfirst into the water of the pool. She resurfaced sputtering and spewing water to the sound off laughter from her spectators and started laughing herself. Besides, it wasn't as if she'd been injured or anything.

Courtney began swimming to the pool ladder after her stage dive but was stopped by someone coming up behind her and grabbing her by the waist. She let out screech and turned around as quickly as she could in the water. She calmed down when she saw that it was only Duncan but her heart rate didn't slow down at all thanks to the look on his face. It was a look of intense anxiety and concern and she couldn't think of a reason as to why he'd be feeling that way. But when he finally spoke, her confusion was immediately replaced by exasperated irritation.

"Are you okay, Courtney?" he asked.

She almost shouted in frustration when he asked her that. It was obvious that he was truly worried too, seeing as he had used her actual name. It was something that she had come to notice during his need to be overbearingly protective of her. She sloshed backwards slightly in the water, subconsciously putting some distance between them in response to her irritation. He took notice of it and frowned, but didn't say anything in fear of causing her further distress.

"I'm perfectly fine, Duncan," she replied, trying not to let any of her aggravation seep into her tone.

"You sure?" he persisted, "There could be like, a delayed reaction or something. Maybe you should go lay down."

Courtney looked down at the water and took a deep breath in an attempt to keep her temper and not overreact. Being pregnant certainly wasn't helping her to keep control over the hormones effecting her emotions. It was definitely something that she wasn't looking forward to in the upcoming months, especially when it came to the end of the nine months. Shaking her head to clear he thoughts, she took another deep breath and finally looked back up at her boyfriend.

"Duncan," she started in a serious tone, "we need to talk."

"About what?"

"We just... we need to talk, okay? _Now_."

His look of anxiety only deepened and his teal eyes grew wide with worry and what looked to be a hint of desperation. "You're not dumping me, are you?"

"No Duncan, I'm not dumping you. So don't worry. We just need to talk," she said with a small smile. He let out a sigh of relief and returned her smile, the anxiety disappearing from his features.

"So what do you want to talk about, babe?" he questioned after a moment, slapping his palms lightly on the surface of the water.

She shook her head. "Not here. Come on, we'll go somewhere more private. I mean, do you really just want anyone to be able to listen in on our business?"

The delinquent didn't seem to hear the last part as he to a step closer to her with a lecherous smirk. "How private?" he asked wrapping his arms around her waist once more.

She hit his chest and tried to hide her smile. "Perv."

He laughed. "Can't help it babe, you bring out the sex addict in me."

She grinned as she extricated herself from his hold. "Well, if you're good, then maybe that addict might get a little satisfaction sometime soon..." she trailed off suggestively. He stared at her slack jawed as she turned in the water and started making her way towards the pool ladder again. After a few seconds, he regained his senses and waded quickly through the water to catch up with her.

"Really?" he asked with an eagerly hopeful tone to his voice.

Courtney smirked as she reached the ladder and climbed up onto the concrete patio. "Maybe," she called as she sauntered off to go back into the resort, water dripping from her body. Duncan scrambled up the ladder and jogged a foot or so to reach where she was before falling into step with her. They walked in companionable silence together, Duncan grabbing two towels left unattended on a lounge chair for them to dry themselves off with. He was surprised when she took the towel from him without without feeling the need to reprimand him for stealing. He then opened the sliding glass door for her and watched to make sure that she didn't trip over the door's track, oblivious to the look of irritation that flashed over across her face. Closing the door behind him, he turned to follow her to where she wanted to talk. She walked across the foyer and led him into the game room. He stood watching from the doorway as she made her way to the small kitchen-like area near the billiards table. Walking around the island put there for the campers put snacks and drinks for when they gathered in the room, she spread her towel on the tile floor. He chuckled as he watched her bend down and stretch out the damp material so that it wouldn't be bunched when she sat down. Once seated on the towel so that she wouldn't get any furniture wet, she stared at the delinquent expectantly until he followed suit and was seated in front of her.

"So... what did you-" Duncan began.

"Duncan, you need to back off," Courtney interrupted him, cutting right to the chase.

"What do you mean?" he asked, genuinely confused.

Courtney sighed and rubbed her forehead with the tips of her fingers. "I mean that you need to not follow me around everywhere and try to do everything for me while we're here. It's driving me crazy, Duncan! It's like you think that because I'm pregnant, I can't do anything for myself. And that's not the case."

Duncan frowned in response to her request. "But I'm just trying to make this whole thing easier for you."

"I know, Duncan. And don't think that I'm taking your efforts for granted or anything. It's just frustrating when I can't even get my own breakfast, or open a door, or even walk somewhere because my boyfriend thinks that I'll wear myself out. I know I'm pregnant and all, but I'm barely a month along. I can still do things on my own."

He looked away from her for a moment and she was worried that she'd maybe gone too far, or said something the wrong way. That was really the last thing that she'd wanted to do. He stayed that way for about a minute and Courtney was tense with worry the entire time. But then he finally turned to look at her again, a soft smile on his face. "Yeah, sure," he said grabbing her hand in his own, "I can understand how that could be irritating."

She let out an audible sigh of relief. "Thanks," she said, giving his hand a squeeze.

"It's no problem, Princess," he replied, "Just tell me whenever you actually do need some help or _anything_ else. I don't want you to have to do things that are too stressful, or strenuous, or anything. I mean, you really do need to lookout for yourself more now. You can't even imagine how horrible I'd feel if anything ever happened to you."

Courtney let go of his hand and leaned leaned forward to give him a hug. His concern for her was sweet, even if it was a little misplaced. "You don't need to worry," she told him, "I know what I can and can't handle."

He sighed contentedly and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him so that their position wasn't as awkward. After a moment he let her go and stood up, kicking his towel to the side. He held out his hand to Courtney and helped her up off of the floor as well. Once steady on her feet, she pulled her hair over her shoulder and wrung it out over the towel until the water stopped dripping from the ends. He grinned when she then kicked the damp towel away from herself further into the room, uncaring of where it ended up. He was rubbing off on her after all.

"So, was that all that you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked her as she pulled her shirt down over her lower back. She grimaced in distaste when the dampness of the material caused it to stretch to a ridiculous length. "I mean, there's really nothing else that's causing frustration, or discontent, or anxiety for us... is there?" he continued with a slight frown.

"Well,maybe not _now_," she said, a sudden look of doubt adorning her features, "but..."

"But what?" he asked uneasily.

"What about when we're not here? When we have to go back home to our old lives!? This," she rested her hands on her stomach to remind him of the life growing inside, "is going to make that kind of hard."

He sighed in acknowledgement and stepped closer to her, one of his hands reaching out to gently touch her face. She looked up at him and her sable eyes bore into his, rampant with acute uncertainty and fear of what the future might hold for them. And for once, he was just as confused and unsure as she was. But they'd work something out. They _had_ too, being without her just wasn't an option for him anymore. He stared back at her, sure that his own eyes contained the very emotions clouding hers. He was at a loss. Neither of them could be certain of how things would work out, but he was sure that was the last thing she wanted to hear from him. So he opted not to say anything. Instead he pulled her to him and kissed her, trying to convey a sense of comfort through the act. She clung to him knowing that avoiding the problem wasn't going to help, but glad for the distraction. After a minute the two broke apart, their breathing heavy. Courtney buried her face in in his chest and Duncan rested his chin on the top of her head.

"I don't know, love," he eventually said as he rubbed soothing circles on her back, "we'll cross that bridge when we get there, I guess."

She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed her eyes shut tightly as though it would protect her from the troubles she would soon face. All she could do was pray that the bridge wouldn't collapse and send them tumbling into the tumultuous and frothy waters below.

* * *

**A/N: And there you have it, Chapter 11: the end. I hope that you weren't disappointed or anything. And even if you were then I'll hopefully be able to make it up to you in the sequel that has been voted for by you (well, those of you who voted! lol.)! Here's the thing though, I won't be writing it right away. You see, I have a LOT of other ideas that I have been dying to write. So the sequel won't be out right away. But I'll still try to work on it in between the other stories I plan on writing. And in case you're wondering, I have two developed story ideas that I'd like to work on before I turn all of my attention to the sequel of this story. So yeah, that's the deal about the sequel. Again, I hope you're not disappointed.**

**Oh, and in case you wanted to know, the song that Courtney and Bridgette were singing and dancing to in this chapter was "Words" by Between the Trees. It's off of their album _The Story and the Song_. It's an amazing CD and the thing I had Bridgette say about is what I think whenever I decide to listen to it again. There are a lot of CDs like that, don't you think? But anyway, I thank all of you who stuck with this story to the end and actually enjoyed it. Even more so, I thank those of you reviewed. You guys rock! lol. But seriously, love all of you! Tchau!**


End file.
